Iterum
by Otter and Tapir Writing Corp
Summary: AU Original Characters: Set in a futuristic Digital World, years after the defeat of an evil tempest called Insomnia, four human children find themselves ripped from their lives in the human world and become mixed up in a mass of conspiracy and secrecy.
1. Chapter 1

Alright. Iterum is set in an original universe with original characters. It does not follow the show's cannon, it will never have any of the cannon characters, it will only have original characters that no one has ever seen before. Iterum is based, very losely, off a futuristic version of the Digital World provided at an RP called Digital Dreams. Big plug for that place right here, considering a lot of these human characters are member characters. All of the Digimon that appear as of right now are mine, however. I will give credit to the members when I use their characters at the bottom of every chapter. If you'd like to learn more about Digital Dreams, the link is: .?. Iterum is also posted up there.

No flames, no calling any characters involved a Mary Sue and, again, this is an original universe based off Digital Dream's Digital World. The year this fanfiction is set in is 2036 so not terribly far into the future.

Digimon is owned by Bandai/Toei but the characters in this fanfiction are owned by their respective owners; not making any money off this what so ever.

Beta'd by Admin, Vn70072 at Digital Dreams and written solely by Otterly Lost, the Otter portion of Tapir and Otter.

* * *

**Chapter One**

_She's been missing for a week now…_

Tired, bagged blue-green eyes stared listlessly at the empty desk situated in front of them. Claire, the owner of such down trodden eyes, sighed and laid her head on the desk. Her best friend, Kaoru, had been gone for sometime and it was believed that she'd been kidnapped. The police had been looking for her for a while now, while her loved ones all gathered round and waited for news well into the night. As of late though, it almost felt like they were giving up. Claire had been the last to fall into a fitful slumber last night after Kaoru's mothers had returned home about midnight. The young, sixteen year old, however, had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, watching the phone as she had for previous nights.

"Ms. Evans, do attempt to pay attention."

Claire sat up and looked toward her homeroom teacher, withholding a scowl. "Yes ma'am,"she said, too tired to glare at the snickering boy at the back of the class. The teacher resumed teaching, scribbling something in neat, loopy writing on the dry erase board. Claire sighed again and slumped her shoulders.

_Kaoru… where are you?_

She felt a buzz against her pants leg and her eyes jerked open. Idly her hand moved to quiet the cellphone in her pocket as a feeling of whoozy anticipation swept through her. Kaoru was the only one that text her with any regularity. Her heart jumped with excitement and beat strongly against her chest. Her hand shot into the air and the teacher gave her an irritated look.

"Yes?"she said tersely.

"I need to go to the restroom,"Claire said, a little breathlessly. "Please excuse me." She stood and rushed from the classroom before the teacher could stop her. She entered the nearest, empty girl's bathroom and quickly locked the swinging door. She was quivering as she grappled for her phone. Managing to wrestle it into her fingers, she stared at it and felt bile rise in her throat.

The number that stared back at her wasn't one she readily knew and it definitely wasn't Kaoru's because she readily knew that one by heart and soul and body. Slowly she leaned back against the cool metallic door, beginning a downward slide to the floor. She inclined her face forward and cupped it in her free hand, the other holding the sleek silver and red phone in a lose grip.

She didn't cry; she'd never admit that she did. But her eyes did water and she was angry. Angry at who, she didn't know. Just angry in general at the injustice of it all.

After what seemed like an eternity, she stirred and finally gathered the strength to look at the text. Her eyes were bloodshot when she glanced over the words and for a moment, she was confused by them. It was a question.

**Do you know the Digital World?**

**y/n**

_Digital World…_

**No.**

She waited, almost nervously for a response, only to have it come near instantaneously.

**Would you like to?**

**y/n**

Again she hesitated, unsure where this was going. This whole business reminded her of the games that were sent around cellphones. Most of them were automated and made up by complete asses who were only out to give your phone a virus. Anyone who ever got through them always ended up needing a new phone and SIMs card.

She frowned and rubbed the fingers on her free hand together. She could always wheedle a new phone out of her parents later…

**Yes.**

Suddenly her phone jerked to life, morphing into some kind of band before her eyes before latching tightly around her wrist. She gasped sharply before there was a jerk around her mid drift. After that, everything went dark around her and there was a moment of freefalling through oblivion.

* * *

Everything suddenly jerked to a halt and Claire jerked awake, green-blue eyes flying open. She sucked in a sharp breath and felt dizzy and sick as she lay on what felt like a cool tiled floor. Above here, the entire ceiling was made of glass and arching into a large dome around her. On the other side of the glass, blackness dotted by twinkling lights stretched as far as she could see. Every now and again, one would blink off, only to come back on about a second later.

Claire sucked in a deep breath to steady her stomach and sat up slowly. She examined her surroundings more thoroughly and found that the dome was just a small part of a much larger infrastructure. The dome room itself looked to be more of a waiting room, with hard plastic chairs seated in six rows in the middle of the room. Claire was on the floor, three rows from the front facing the exit. The exit itself looked to be a long glass tube that lead into a much larger, triangular building.

Carefully, with her hand holding the back of one of the chairs, Claire pulled herself to her feet. Her hands idly brushed off her pants and she bent down once more to grab her black cap. She brushed the beret off and set it back on her short, spikey black hair. Just as her fingers were pushing her blonde bangs from her eyes, she saw a creature approaching her quickly.

It was a short, squat creature with wings for ears and big blue eyes. Half of it was orange(the top half) and that coloration extended down to about the level of its mouth(which was small and rounded, almost like a three with a wider middle). The bottom half was a light creamy color and extended down over four, fat little legs that ended with three toed paws in black color.

"Heeeey!"it cried out, even more surprising to the girl. Claire quickly began to step back only to trip and fall back into one of the hard chairs. She growled and struggled to get back up but it was too later. The creature was already on her, and holding up its front paws in a placating gesture.

"Whoa! Wait, wait there, Claire!"it squeaked.

"Where am I?"she growled, eyes narrowing. "And what are you?"

"Calm down,"the rat with wings said softly. "You're in the Digital World; you're safe. I'm a species of creatures called Digimon. I'm a Patamon named Seph…"

Claire continued to glare but had calmed down slightly with the explanation. "What is the Digital World and what is a Digimon?"she said gripping the armrests. Seph sighed and brought a paw up to rub at its(his? Seph was a boy's name right?) fat, squishy face. "Oh boy,"he said softly before fluttering to sit down on the back of the chair in front of Claire's own.

"Okay. The Digital World itself is where Digimon live; its… its complicated but its more or less what it sounds like. It is a world made digitally. A Digimon is a Digital Monster… Its complicated."He sighed again and hid his face in his paws. "Look, that's the best I can explain it to you,"he said sharply, moving one paw to the side to glare at her via a single blue eye. "Just know that you're currently on the Digital World's moon. At the very top tip. Beyond that hallway is the space station that will take you down to the surface. You have to wait here for the next transport to be prepped. Before you leave, you will meet your partner-"

"Partner?"Claire interrupted, eyes suspicious. She ignored the irritated look Seph passed her.

"Yes. Partner. You will have a Digimon companion who will protect and serve you during your time here in the Digital World. He will join you shortly. Now, I'm afraid I must go."

He pushed off the chair and took flight, leaving Claire gob smacked. He was gone before she could really stop him. This left her seated in the domed room, staring ahead. Carefully she slumped back in her chair and looked around idly.

Whoever decorated the room had obviously attempted to make it more comfortable, going as far as to place brightly colored, potted plants at the four corners of the square of chairs. Behind her, nothing but space stretched out, almost as though the land ended right as the building did. Under her high tops, the floor was black, shiny tile. And upward and off to the side, she could see a flat ellipse that she could only guess was this Digital World.

Sighing, Claire looked forward and stared at the dark blue chair in front of her. Her eyes were growing heavy and it wasn't long before she fell into a light doze. Her last coherent thought was of Kaoru and where she could possibly be.


	2. Chapter 2

I have up to chapter seven written but for today I'm only updating to Chapter Three… mostly because the way of uploading things is really really frickin' annoying. Anyway. Last chapter I forgot to credit characters. I will remember to do last chapter and this chapters characters here.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

"Ooooi! Matte!"

A tanned girl carefully lowered herself down one of the large rocks on the far side of the beach she had found herself at. Her thin, delicate little hands were attempting to keep an untoward breeze from blowing up the bottom of her short, thigh length dress in her descent. She landed on a sturdy, flat rock of an orangish hue and stared down the last fifteen feet to the sandy beach.

The girl was thick; that is to say, she was heavier than a girl her age usually would prefer. It was far from unhealthy and gave her a soft, womanly attractiveness and gentle curves in the form of wide hips and slim shoulders. A cool breeze brushed her face and she shivered a bit, pulling her deep purple half jacket around her tighter around her. The jacket itself clanked with a little chain that looped from her right arm to her breast pocket. This chain used to be attached to a clip her mère had put on her little pink phone. Now, however, it served no other purpose than to look nice.

Her phone had recently morphed into some other kind of device. It was a sleek, metallic watch that was fairly light. It had a wide screen embossed on the front with a touch screen menu set up; when she wasn't using the menu, a little cover slid over it to protect it. She'd yet to explore the device(it was pink like her phone had been) in earnest but she had quickly discovered that she couldn't get it off. It had attached itself thoroughly to her wrist.

She sighed and brushed her fingers over the front of her pleated dress before reaching up and adjusting her stripped pink and purple tie. The weather wasn't kind to those who decided to be fashionable instead of practical. She reached up and tugged her white beret tighter over her brown, curly hair. The two, large pig tails swayed in the wind and her dressed whipped around her thigh.

"Ugh!"she said before slowly sliding from her perch, not caring if her panties showed. Its not like there were any boys around anyway.

At the base, waiting in the cool sand, a canine like creature greeted her.

The beast was short and muscled with wolf-like fur hanging from its head. Large fangs hung from the muzzle of the fur and long, feather-like ears whipped in the wind. An impressive, solid black horn jutted from the top most part of the fur and red eyes glared from the eye sockets in the fur. Scaley hands head the paw part of the skin and three long claws adorned each paw. Out the back, a grey, scaley tail swayed. The fur itself was black and silver.

"About time you caught up, Kaoru"grunted the beast, black nose twitching as it breathed in her scent.

"Sorry, Athanas,"she said, patting its head, much to its annoyance. It, or he, sighed and rubbed the top of its muzzle with a paw. The other paw idly scratched at an itch on hits belly.

"We're on a tight schedule, you know,"he mumbled. "Azulongmon only tells the story about Insomnia once a year. If we miss it, he won't tell it again until next year." He began to walk off with a waddling gait and Kaoru quickly moved to catch up, her pink sneakers sinking in the sand.

"Well… why do we need to go see it so badly? Its just a story, ne?"

Athanas looked back at her sharply, red eyes narrowing. "Its not just a story,"he said snidely. "Its only the great tale ever told!" He stopped and folded his arms over his chest. Kaoru came to a stop behind him and idly reached forward to fiddle with the end of one of the long, flyaway ears.

"Oh… so you've heard it before, right? You could just tell me it then."

Athanas frowned deeply and seemed to go a little red at her words. "No, I can't…"he grunted. "I've… never heard it either. Besides-"he rushed onward before she dare interrupt him"-it is important for us to be there! You wanted to see if there were any other humans, right?"

She blinked her mismatched blue and brown eyes and nodded. "Right?"

Athanas smirked. "Well, if there are any other humans, they'll be at this storytelling event! Humans are sacred and for a Digimon to bring one to this ceremony is a great honor!"

At his words, Kaoru's eye brows shot up. "Really?"she said. "Well, we need to hurry then, ne? I don't want to miss anyone that maybe there! Lets go!" She took his paw in her hand pulled them into a run. Athanas stumbled a bit, his short legs struggling to keep up with her longer strides.

* * *

"Itai!"

"I told you to slow down!""Athanas, it huuuuuurts!"

"Stop wiggling or I'm going to drop you!"

"Kyaaaaaa! Athanas! Don't drop me!"

"Urp-! I won't if you sit still!"Athanas struggled to keep a grip on his squirming tamer. The girl had tripped in a fantastic display of grace and hurt her ankle in the fall. This left Athanas, the loyal Black Gabumon, to carry her 'til they reached a town where her foot could be placed in a brace.

They'd long since managed to leave the beach behind when Kaoru had chosen to trip and had entered a lust, temperate forest. The tall oak trees and the smell of fresh water and flowers made Athanas think of home. Or it would have if he didn't have a hefty, human child on his back.

Currently, Kaoru was on piggy back style, with her arms around his neck and her head laying to the side of his sharp horn. Her legs were on either side of his wide hips and his paws held them to keep her from sliding off. His tail provided a bumpy seat for her rear and helped keep her on his back for the most part. He sighed and continued to trudge through the thick forest, ignoring his current weight. They still had a long trip ahead of them and Kaoru's ankle would be nothing but a hindrance to them. It meant they had to make a detour to a small village where they'd be confined for a bit while her ankle healed.

He grunted as Kaoru began to squirm again and listened to her let out a soft whine of displeasure. "How much longer?"she asked. The annoyed huff rang in her ears and she couldn't help but smile.

"Not much. Now, hush. Be pat-"Suddenly Athanas stumbled forward a bit, barely catching his balance, as suddenly Kaoru stood up higher on his back and pointed ahead. "HEEEY! I see a town!"she cried out loudly. Athanas's face turned annoyed and he pulled her legs lightly to bring her back into a seated position.

"Urgh- Yes! That's our destination! Now sit still!"

* * *

The village was a bustle of excitement as Athanas came into the village. An excited-looking creature rushed toward them. It was yellow and about as tall as Athanas. It looked like a mini t-rex with large green eyes and wide nostrils. It reached out clawed hands and helped Kaoru carefully down from her perch.

"Welcome, human!"it said boisterously. "We have awaited your arrival since our village leader predicted it! I am Theo and its my job to help you to our leader! Please, just lean on me, human!"

Kaoru stared, mystified, and leaned heavily on the flat dino head. She carefully tapped the covering of her watch like device and watched as it slid back. Then, on the touch screen, she tapped carefully on the Digimon Analyzer. She'd stored it under her favorite aps simply because it was easier; it seemed like the longer she stayed here the more, newer Digimon she found.

The picture of the scaley lizard appeared on screen and she read as they walked.

**Species: Agumon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Reptile**

**Attribute: Vaccine**

**Field: Metal Empire, Nature Spirits, Virus Busters**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

"Oh… so you're an Agumon?"she said, wide eyed and looking down at him.

"Yes, human!"it said enthusiastically. It gave her a toothy grin, all fangs and eager to please happiness radiating from him. Kaoru giggled and managed to scratch his head, much to his delight.

Her childishness simply made Athanas roll his eyes. He trailed behind the two at a lazy pace, his maroon eyes roving over the village. Unlike his human companion, he believed that knowing one's environment would be good information to have. Though, from what he could see, the village was relatively peaceful and quiet.

It was mostly little homes and tree houses. He could smell food baking from one of the houses to the far right and in the distance, he could hear a bustling little market with local wares and good strewn out for all eyes to see. Hopefully Kaoru didn't see or notice its existence; undoubtedly she'd want to waste valuable time looking around it.

_She's so frivolous… Were all humans like this?_

The inhabitants of the village were varied in species but most of them lingered in the same level range. There were Adult levels but these were mostly heads of family's. Child level Digimon bustled through the streets, playing and chasing down various baby II Digimon. A Leomon sat on the porch of one of the little cottages, cradling a colicky popomon. It fluttered and wriggled, making little whiney noises while the large hands of its parent bounced it gently.

Athanas could help a little smile. It was a cozy place…

"Aaaaaaathanas!"

… except for loud humans.

He huffed and looked toward Kaoru. "What?"

"Theo-kun says there's a market! Can we go? Please! Pleasepleasepleeeeeeeeeeease…"

_Damn…_

_

* * *

_

At the far end of the village was a particularly large home surrounded so thickly by weeping willows(or the Digital World's version of them) that one would almost miss it. And inside this massive home is a single, smoke filled room with a large cushion against the back wall and several smaller ones strewn around it. On the large cushion, there was a strange Digimon curled. It had no legs but several long coiling tentacles that, if it were moving, would writhe and carry it across the floor. It was a large, alien Digimon, standing at about 6'7" tall with an incredibly large and bulbous brain. Bulging yellow eyes glowed in the room only lit by the tiny speckles of light at the end of inscent sticks. Carefully held between long, skeletal fingers a little cigar glowed in the darkness as well, letting off a velvety, smoky smell. The Digimon brought the cigar to its lips and took a long drag, its stick figure chest inflating as it breathed. It exhaled with a sigh as its visitors finally made their entrance.

"Friendz! Comradez!"it said boisterously in a thick, gravely, Russian accent. "Velcome to my humble abode! Please! Sit, sit! I am Ermolai! I have seen your arrival for many many moonz! It is my pleasure to finally meet you!"

In the smoke ridden room, Koaru's eyes watered and she coughed a bit into her hand. The room was stiflingly hot and she couldn't tell anything about it through the sickly smelling smoke. But she did her best to be polite to such a kind Digimon as Ermolai, even if he did scare her a little.

Theo helped lead her over to one of the soft cushions and she slowly lowered herself onto it, happy to be off her bad ankle at last. Then the Agumon bowed himself out and left her and Athanas behind. Athanas lowered himself onto a cushion beside her, one thickly muscled leg under him and the other folded up and against his chest. He rested his arm upon the top of his knee and stared ahead silently.

Kaoru assumed that he was leaving the talking up to her. She smiled and nodded. "Its nice to meet you, Ermolai… Er… do you mind…?"

She held up her watch in silent questioning and he laughed, the sound throaty and filling the entire room. "Use the Mark II to check my states, dear little one? Of course, of course! Curiosity is the sign of a good mind! Read all you like and rest a bit. We have time!"

Kaoru seemed pleased, already liking this 'mon. She tapped the cover once more and watched it slide back before going through the same process she had with Theo.

**Species: Vademon**

**Level: Perfect**

**Type: Alien**

**Attribute: Virus**

**Field: Dark Area**

"Perfect level… so that means you're really powerful, ne?"she asked, awed. She looked back up at him, eyes wide and curious. She jumped with Ermolai started laughing once more."Strength is more than physical power, my little munchkin! It iz also emotional and mental! A tamer-that's you, my dear- must have all these traits and more so that you may pass them on to your partner!" He nodded sagely and brought his cigar back to his small mouth, drawing off a long drag. He pulled it away and allowed the smoke to stream away in a sigh.

"I have the unique ability to see into the future, my darling,"Ermolai explained. He didn't see Athanas roll his eyes or shake his head and even if he had, he probably would have ignored the Gabumon Black. "I have foreseen your arrival,"Ermolai continued. "And I have seen further into your future. I have seen that you have a long journey ahead of you but you must not fret. You shall have two comradez join you. The three of you vill have an adventure together, but there vill be a time where you must separate once more to find your own vay. While you are together, you must protect each other and set aside any more biases you may have if you wish to survive to begin your own individual journeys. There iz an evil stirring…"

Kaoru listened well to Emolai's words and thought them over for a long time. If what he said was true, she could only assume that she was going to run into two other humans. It would be a relief to see humans again; she has been here for days it felt and she was sorely missing her okaa-san and her mère. Not to mention Claire…

_They must feel so worried… I wish I could let them know I'm okay… tell Claire that I'm okay…_

_

* * *

_

**Last Chapter: Claire and Seph © Me**

**This Chapter: Kaoru © Vn70072**

**Athanas © Me**


	3. Chapter 3

Aaaand… Chapter Three. Enjoy. Also, the link for Digital Dreams again is: http : / / z10 . Invisionfree . com / DigitalDreams / index . php ? Just remove spaces.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Caleb slammed his door shut, grumbling under his breath. He tossed his book back onto his desk and locked the door behind him. Soon he flopped onto the bed, face first, and relaxed into the comfort of it, trying to temper his annoyance. Rosie was always bothering him with stupid questions that shouldn't even need answers and mom always seemed to take _her_ side! It was infuriating!

He slammed a fist onto the bed and growled as someone knocked. "Go away!"he barked, his voice muffled by his blankets. It was silent for a moment before someone knocked again. He snarled and lifted his head. "I said I don't want to talk! I want to sleep!"he snapped throwing his pillow against he door. It hit with a soft thud and fell to the floor. The knocking stopped and after a couple of seconds, Caleb could hear the sound of feet on the carpet retreating.

He frowned and flopped back on the bed, laying his head to the side instead of face down. His room was dark and painted a light blue color. The twin sized bed was covered with a darker blue bed spread. Against the far wall was a desk that was seriously overloaded with books and magazines of various levels of maturity along with his large, lumpy green back pack. The walls were plastered with various band posters, bakini pictures, and video game characters. The closet, opposite the currently locked door, was ajar so that one could see past childhood memories nestled in a rainbow colored toy box. Tinker toys, lego blocks, RC cars, various dinosaurs, and the occasional stuffed animal peaked out of the overflowing the box.

Caleb stared around his room, remenants of a simpler time making his stomach hurt. From here he could see, perched precariously on the corner of his sloppy desk, was the broken photograph of a boy and his family. The glass was splintered and spread like a spider web across the bright cheerful faces. Caleb could see himself, a four year old boy, smiling happily with his mom's arms around him and his father standing tall next to them. Looking at it now, he could tell there was something that should have tipped him off to his father's sudden change. The smile on his face didn't quite reach his green eyes and upon close examination, his jaw was stubbled(a look he simply didn't have every time he came to visit). His messy hair was sticking up more than it did now and he looked tired… older.

_It was taken not too long after he found out about that bitch._

He screwed his eyes closed and felt them water a bit. His father was a bastard. Another, second pillow, hit the picture and sent it tumbling to the floor, completely shattering the glass…

* * *

Hours had passed when a banging woke Caleb with a jerk. He didn't even remember falling asleep. Muzzily, he turned his green eyes toward the door and glared. "What?"he snapped but the banging continued. Gritting his teeth, he stumbled from his bed, his clothes from school wrinkled and his brown hair spiking more than usual.

His hand that had grown annoying like his father's own lithe spidery ones, fumbled with the door lock and through the damn thing open. Speak of the devil. His father was and always had been a tall man but through the years, Caleb had caught up and now stood at his father's nose level. The tips of his hair could tickle his dad's eyes.

"Dad,"he stated plainly, carefully keeping his face neutral and purposefully upping the tension between father and son. The blonde man before him stared at him with an equal amount of neutrality but Caleb could see, with great satisfaction, the twitch to the corner of his father's lips and there was something in his eyes that let Caleb know that there was a problem.

"Caleb,"his father started, surprisingly breathless,"Claire is missing." Caleb could appreciate the way he was so careful not to refer to Claire as his sister. He could not appreciate how his father seemed to think her disappearance was something he'd give a damn about.

"And?"he said, raising an eyebrow, the only quirk in his completely placid expression.

"And what?"his father said, the façade finally fading away into a look a annoyance. "Caleb, she is your sis-"

"I don't count her as my _sister_,"Caleb sniped. "I don't _want_ any siblings. In my opinion, Claire isn't anymore family than _you_ are!" His voice had grown steadily louder, giving way to his anger and frustration. "You aren't my dad, not by my book. Get the hell out!"

Before his father could open his mouth the door slammed in his face and was promptly locked. Banging quickly resumed on Caleb's door but he ignored it, quickly emptying his back pack. Books, pens, pencils tumbled out onto the floor only to shoved out of the way. He ruffled through his drawers and began to cram his back pack full of clothing and snacks and various tools he'd stashed away from his parents prying eyes.

In the very back of his top most drawer, he grappled before pulling out a large metal tin that rattled. He forced it open with his thumb and grabbed the money inside. He hadn't counted it but he knew it was close to a thousand. He'd began to save his Christmas and birthday money for emergencies like this. The money, all of it, was carefully stashed away in one of the pockets of his cargo pants.

His father had taken to calling out his name between knocks which only spurred Caleb's rush to grab two last minute items. His light blue and silver phone disappeared into his pocket, followed hurriedly by his charger. He grabbed his laptop case from under his bed and slung the strap over his shoulder.

He didn't look back as he tugged his window open and forced out the screen. Carefully he clambered through it and pushed past the thick bushes that grew under his window. Caleb, just barely sixteen, stormed his way out of the back yard and without looking back at his family's home, walked down the sidewalk. It would many months before his parents, whether he counted any of them as such or not, would see him again. He was going, going, gone, weighed down by his bags and the weight of the world.

* * *

"I fail to see why we needed to meet here, of all places."

A card flicked over the table and landed in the growing pile. The thrower leaned back in his chair and rubbed his muzzle idly with the throwing hand. His other hand, covered by a fur with three long claws, held a hand of three cards. His placid maroon eyes glanced over the other two participants, one a scaly, alert dragon with bright green eyes and the other a sleepy looking yellow and orange lion cub.

"Well, innit obvious?"yawned the lion cub who was to the right of the original card thrower; it sounded male. With an adaptive tail, it through out another card, face down like the rest and the game swiveled toward the dragon.

"A bit,"the dragon burst, voice sounding bubbly and female. "I mean… He always wants to talk to us, eh? And we know he doesn't travel. Why should this be any different?" Her wide mouth curled into a grin, and if one were to look down it would be noticed that her hand was much wider than the other two players. "One seven,"she said, quickly placing her card on the pile.

Simultaneously and in perfect sync, the other two cried out,"Bullshit."

"Awwww…."

* * *

**Caleb (C) Aqua-chan**

**Caleb's Dad (C) Vn70072  
**

**Mystery Characters (C) Me  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Not that anyone is reading past Chapter One anyway, I've decided I don't care if anybody does; I'm going to continue to post Iterum up until its here in all its completed glory. A new chapter will be posted every day until the fan fiction has caught up with its copy on Digital Dreams and then I will begin updates every Monday.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"This walk always gets longer and longer."

"Its all in your head."

"Bullshit."

"Ugh, just shut up and meet your damn tamer."

A purring snicker echoed from the large muscled chest of a small lion cub. It was covered in golden fur with a bright orange tuft of fur at the top of its head. Bright blue eyes that seemed unusually lucid and alert considering the cub's lazy, lackadaisical expression. It twitched its long tail and continued its leisurely pace with the rushing Seph leading. Long black claws clacked on the shiny black floor.

A large sliding door opened for them and lead them into the smaller domed waiting room. The lion's blue eyes perused the room, searching out his tamer for their journey. After a few cursory looks, he finally found her in the middle of the block of chairs, her head lulled onto her shoulder and her eyes closed.

He approached her slowly, the heavy pendant on his thick golden collar oddly quiet. The girl before him was tall for human females. His grandfather used to tell him stories and descriptions of the various humans he had seen and he always described the females as being smaller and shorter than the males. This girl was two inches shy of six foot and was finely toned with slim muscle; she wasn't bulky like a Leomon and was more like the build of Liamon instead. Lithe and strong. Her skin was tanned and her hair was cropped short and messy, swept to the sides at the front and spiky at the back. A black beret was perched, at this junction of time and space, precariously on her drooping head. A white shirt lay hidden under a blue, belt covered jacket. Black, ripped jeans covered her legs; they were straight and went down and over the tops of a pair of blue high tops.

She shifted as he came closer and crawled into one of the chairs juxtaposition in the front row from her chair. He propped himself on the back of his chair, large clawed paws hanging down lazily. The blonde strands of hair at her bangs fell more into her closed eyes.

"Well, she wasn't supposed to be asleep when we arrived… but she probably would have been awake had we arrived earlier."

Seph interrupted the chain of though the lion had going and landed on the back of the chair next to him. "You took far longer to wake up than expected, Karel,"Seph continued, grumbling. Karel smirked, his lips lined with black. "Yes, well, for the sake of our schedule, you had better hope she isn't as difficult… and that the transporters actually are accurate this time."

A fangy grin spread across Karel's short muzzle and eerily it reminded Seph of a shark. Seph flushed, a peachy color invading his cream colored cheeks. "The last time was just a mess up and they are heading in the right way,"he groused. "Ermolai reported in alread-"

Karel shushed him as the girl stirred. The long lashes fluttered and the lids cracked open, allowing a sliver of blue green to glow from between them. Sleep still clung to the girl as she moved and sat up, snuffling and swallowing. "Wha-"she grunted, wincing as she turned her head, trying to focus her gaze.

"Ohhh… cricks are the worst thing, aren't they, love?"Karel purred, tail twisting.

Her eyes widened and looked toward the cub, memories rushing back. "Who are you,"she said, not asked, eyes turning hard. "Why am I here? What the hell-"

"Ah shh, shh,"Karel said soothingly. "Relax, my darling. I'm Karel the Liollmon. I'll be your partner. As for why, we don't know. We could never figure out why it was always certain humans who arrived. For now though, we must, unfortunately, make haste. You are Claire, yes?"

"I- yes… I am,"she bit out, standing and exposing how tall she truly was. Damn this girl was _tall_. He slid down from his seat and landed on the black tiled floor with a clatter of black claws. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath; it then deflated as he let it out in a slow, drawn out sigh.

"Alright, Seph,"Karel said, slinking between the rows. "Lead the way. And no fuck ups this time."

The Patamon cast a nasty glare toward Karel and took flight, leading the way. Claire trailed behind, a frown garnishing her features. What the hell had two text messages got her into?

The group had slipped through the sliding glass doors and into the long narrow tube that connected to the far triangular glass and steel building. In her chest, Claire could feel her heart pumping, thumping against her chest as they went further and further down the corridor. In her nervousness, she moved her hands together and instantly met something on her wrist.

Looking down she found a device. A flash of memory zoomed through Claire's mind and she realized that it was the band that her phone had turned into not long after sending her last text message on it. Carefully, she tried to pry her fingers underneath the band but found there was no room for them to fit and the thing felt like it was attached to her flesh. She gritted her teeth and looked it over more thoroughly. It was the same color as her phone had been, with a little screen on the top side. Or she assumed it was a screen. There was a hard covering over the top of it.

Lightly she tapped her index finger over it and the cover slid away to allow her access to a touch screen. Words were flickering before her and she blinked, confused.

**Enter your name.**

A small keyboard was underneath the words and deftly she entered her first and then last name before she tapped okay. A loading screen appeared, this one looking like the silhouette of a feather and butterfly together. It was white but as the device loaded, it turned a light blue. The screen flashed again.

**Accepted. **

**Name: Claire Evans**

**Age: 16**

**Blood Type: AB**

**Partner: Karel(Liollmon)**

**Welcome to the Digital World. Please enter a Username.**

Claire hesitated here, looking at it with some amount of curiosity. She grappled a bit before typing in a name she often used for short lived skits on forums. She nervously chewed her lip and tapped okay once more.

**LOADING…**

The same picture as before popped up for a split second before it flashed to light blue and disappeared once more. A new screen popped up.

**Is SilverNorthStar accurate?**

**y/n**

She tapped yes.

**Complete! Congratulations on setting up your Digital Monster Messenger(DMM) account.**

"You set the Mark II up?"

Seph had been watching Claire through the process and now grinned at her. "The old D-bans were a bit simpler and bulkier than this one,"he explained. "They had a texting feature but it was somewhat archaic and a bit like the older phones; it was done by a number system. This system is more like an instant messenger; gets answers a lot faster."

Claire looked befuddled and was about to say as such when she was cut off by a huff. "You're only confusing her,"Karel muttered. "She doesn't know about the D-ban Mark I. She doesn't even know that it ever existed." The peach hue again streaked across Seph's face."Oh shut up! I helped design the Mark II. Pardon me for being a bit boastful."

"When was there a need for a Mark I?"Claire said, cutting any response Karel might have had to the prideful Patamon off. Karel's black lips pursed and he shook his head.

"No need to worry about that now, Claire,"he said soothingly. "You should prepare yourself for a rough ride instead. Seph hasn't quite worked the bugs out of his transport."

Seph huffed and fluttered further ahead of them. Karel grinned and looked toward Claire. "Things'll be cool. We just have to land somewhere close to the Digital City; it's the center of the Digital World and where Azulongmon will be telling the story of Insomnia. Now lets hurry, hurry."

The two increased their pace to catch up with the huffy, balloon of hot air.

The Triangular Infrastructure(as Claire had deemed it in her head) was a mass of bustling creatures and digimon over a rusty colored tile floor. It was a small city, carefully situated on the tip of the Digital World's crescent shaped moon. There were vendors and small cafés and, from where she was standing, she could even see a bustling grocery store. And in the center of this mass chaos there was a circular building, a sky scraper really, that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

Claire tilted her head back in an attempt to spy the top and only succeeded in getting a crick in her neck. She looked back ahead and moved to keep up with her "partner" and Seph. They were heading towards the building, she could see that now. Claire's eyes drifted down toward Karel and he looked back up at her with smirk.

"This building goes all the way up to the tip of the building,"he explained. "It serves as both a transport place and support beam." He trotted ahead of them and toward another sliding glass door. It opened for him and the trio entered.

"The transports are on the first floor. The above floors are off limits. That's where I do all my research."

Seph beamed proudly at the end of his words before leading them to a side room. The room that had originally entered appeared to be some kind of lobby. There was a front desk at the very back of the room where a Renamon sat, leaned back in her chair and filing her nails. On top of the chestnut desktop a tiny little potted plant sat at the right hand corner. A large paper calendar covered most of the desktop in front of the Renamon, no doubt where she kept all the important dates and names of people she was meant to allow up stairs. Directly behind her there was a large glass sign with the words Iterum scrawled across in a loopy writing. The same butterfly and feather emblem hung behind the letters. Bits of it were frosted blue and a light glowed behind the letters, illuminating them.

The new room they entered was brightly lit by several consoles that lined the wall. At the back were three half circle pads with a tube over each. A reminder of science fiction movies flickered through Claire's head and she couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips; her father had, very briefly, shown an interest in Star Trek. Later it skittered over to the Stargate series. Neither had interested her very much considering their somewhat advanced age but she remembered there were transport systems in both.

"Lemme guess, we stand on the pads and we get transported to the Digital World, right?"

"Correto-mundo!"Karel said lazily. "If I remember correctly, humans have been messing with this kind of technology for a while. It'll take them forever to sort it though; too many bits and pieces to fudge up.""Mm! Yes,"Seph said with a nod. "The Digital World has technically being doing this kind of thing since its conception. All the internet and computers are is transfer of data. That's all we're doing now. We even fitted such thing to the trailmon tracks in the Digital World to make trips so much shorter." Seph made himself comfortable at the console in front of the pads and started fussing with the buttons.

"It just doesn't always work right… just make sure we get there in one piece. I don't like the idea of being reverted to a DigiEgg.""You won't, you won't,"the Patamon assured. "Now get on the platforms."

Claire hesitated while Karel followed the order without a second though. He stepped onto the pad and sat down with a sigh of relief. His blue eyes locked with Claire's blue green and he arched an elegant fuzzy brow. "Well? Com'on. We're probably going to be dropped off in the vicinity of the Digital City.""Probably…?"

Claire's wariness seeped into her voice as stepped onto the pad next to Karel's. Instantly the pit of her stomach dropped out as the tube descended over them. Through the glass, she could see Seph grin maniacally and tugged a pair of overly large goggles over his blue eyes, magnifying them ten fold.

"Hold on to your undies!"he cackled and slammed his pudgy black paw onto a large blue button. As he did, the pads instantly lit up with blinding white light and, looking down, Claire could see herself disintegrate into motes of glowing data. Beside her, Karel also began to disappear but unlike her, he seemed at ease with it. The whole process did not phase her "partner", even as it reached where his vital organs should have been.

Claire, however, felt a stifling feeling her chest and, while it didn't hurt, it made he feel uncomfortable and stretched. She could see bits of herself fluttering up past her blue green eyes and right into the large coil that was attached at the top of the tube. What the hell was going on?

She closed her eyes and tried to pretend to be anywhere but here.

* * *

Night had fallen in the village. Ermolai had been kind enough to allow Kaoru and Athanas to slumber in the spare home to the side of the Vademon's own shack. Kaoru's ankle had been placed in a tight brace by a medically smart Tailmon and a nice pillow had been slid under it by Theo. Now the pair lay in the one roomed home, staring out the sky lights in the ceiling.

The Digital World sky was different from the Real World sky. For starters, in the day time the sky wasn't just blue but green and yellow, like a computer mother board. The clouds looked like they were cut outs from google images. Cut outs from moving google images because they still did move. They shifted and changed. The sun was the same, though. The same warm yellow at midday, the same orange blaze of glory in the afternoon, and the same red sparkle of life in the morning.

Now laying there, Kaoru realized that the night time sky was different too. It was the same dark blue but there were stretches of purple and paler blue that she didn't get to see in her city home. The moon, every night, was a crescent, curling in the sky. The stars were multicolored, like sprinkles or something similar, and every now and again would blink out and then back on, like the lights on the modem at home. Constellation hunting became quite the adventure.

While Kaoru had been in the Digital World what felt like months, this was the first night she'd ever taken time out to admire the sky in earnest. Every other night, she was too busy passing out as soon as they came to a rest spot or staring off into the darkness with nervous anxiety. Tonight, though, she was contemplative.

Her heart and her body felt hollowed out. She missed home. She missed her okaa-san and her mere. And, deep down, she missed Claire too. She missed Claire almost more than her parents. Kaoru didn't kid herself into thinking she was impregnable or invincible. Growing up, she had been a chubby, rolly child with parents that were unlike everyone else's. She didn't have a daddy like Claire did. She had two mommies. Two mommies that loved her more than enough for five daddies.

She rolled over and felt her eyes water. Having two mommies didn't make making friends easy; not in the least. Little kids were curious and cruel, without the help of some of their parents telling them lies. They used to say she was weird…

And then Claire stepped up and knocked them all down. Claire and her met when they were four and they'd been inseparable since then. At least up until now. How scared must Claire be without Kaoru?

_As scared as I am without her…_

A fat tear slipped from Kaoru's eyes and she glanced over her shoulder to make sure Athanas was asleep. When she was sure she let a little sniffle and hiccup escape her.

* * *

Kaoru had fallen into an uneasy sleep and her awakening was proving even less easy. She awoke with a start to the sound of screaming. Her fingers tightened on the hem of her blanket and she sat up, the thick, brown curls falling around her face. Her blue eyes darted around the room and she quickly pinpointed Athanas in the darkness, already crouched by the cracked door of their home.

"Athanas…?"she whispered, carefully getting onto her hands and knees and inching over. He glanced back at her sharply, his sensitive ears having heard her waking up. A single claw came up to his muzzle and lingered just in front of it; it was a sign for her to be quiet. After she seemed to pick up the message, he gestured for her to come closer with that same claw.

Nibbling her lip, she did, carefully peaking out the door over his head and around his horn with her one blue eye. Outside a group of four legged Digimon growled and wandered around the homes, sniffing around the grass and leaves. Ermolai was at the door of his home, looking nervous.

"There iz nothing here for you. Not a thing."A larger canine, this one looking to be the leader spoke up. "So you wouldn't be hiding humans here, hmm?"

The leader was as tall as their Vademon host but ten times more grizzly. It looked like a werewolf with periwinkle fur and blue stripes. It had a thick ruft of fur along is back, all tipped with blue and long fly away ears, similar to the ones on Athanas's fur. A wide set black nose sniffed the air and a dagger sharp canine protruded from its bottom lip. There was a brown guard of some kind on its right shoulder, attached by a belt that wrapped around a muscled, furry torso. The blue jeans it was wearing were tattered torn and held up by a brown belt. Out the back a scraggly wolf tail twitched and swayed, standing up higher than the rest of the four legged canines skulking around. He had a pair of brass knuckles that gleamed in the dawn light and he shifted on huge paws. Sharp, golden eyes darted around the surroundings suspiciously.

"Humans? You know I'm done with that business!"Ermolai answered, a waving it off and looking anywhere but at the gruff wolf or their building. In the silence of their home, Kaoru carefully backed away from the door, growing nervous. She tapped the cover of her d-ban and instantly headed toward the Digimon Analyzer.

**Species: WereGarurumon**

**Level: Perfect**

**Type: Beast Man**

**Attribute: Data, Vaccine**

**Field: Metal Empire, Nature Spirits, Nightmare Soldiers**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

_Perfect… like Ermolai…_

"Athanas… We have to get out of here,"she whispered in her partner's ear. He waved her off. There weren't any exits for them without being seen. For now they were left hoping that Ermolai's silver tongue could talk them out of trouble.

"If you're out of that business, my Vademon friend, why do my men smell human all over this village?"growled the massive WereGarurumon, tail and thick mane bristling.

"A Lilymon friend of mine came to visit. If you'll notice, you'll also smell flowers."

The eyes narrowed with some suspicion. "You won't mind if I leave one of my men behind then, will you, Ermolai?"

From here, Kaoru could see Ermolai's lips twitch but his expression betrayed nothing else of what he was feeling. "No, go right ahead, Zuriel,"he said with confidence. I guarantee he will have nothing to report in the least. Nothing at all."Zuriel's expression didn't waver but he did glance back around his band of hounds. They all circled, bodies lowering beneath the gaze of their leader. His eyes fell upon a sleeker wolf with thick fur. It had sharply pointed ears and a regal muzzle. Its fur was a darker periwinkle than that of the WereGarurumon's and there were bat like red markings along its shoulders, haunches and were purple bat wings protruding from a thick ruff of white fur; these wrapped around the canine's neck and came to point evenly at each other at the beast's heart. From behind the sharply pointed ears, another pair folded themselves off, pointing straight ahead and blocking off any view Kaoru had of the beast's eyes. It didn't stop her from seeing the massive canines that hung from its jowels or the paws that were made of blades instead of flesh and bone.

The Analyzer again went to work, giving her the appropriate information on the monster that would be patrolling the village in search of them.

**Species: Sangloupmon**

**Level: Adult**

**Type: Demon Beast**

**Attribute: Virus**

**Field: Dark Area, Nightmare Soldier**

"Ira, you will stay behind."

The Sangloupmon named Ira raised its great head and spoke, the voice startlingly female. "Yes, Zuriel,"she said smoothly. "I will do my best to search out any humans I may or may not find." Zuriel nodded and Kaoru caught the tail end of a little smile on his large, bulbous muzzle.

"We will continue our patrols. If you come across anything, you know how to find us.""Of course."

The bipedal canine nodded and with that the group of canine's dispersed, leaving Ira behind. She twisted her head around and looked about, her pointy ears pricked. "I will start with an investigation of the villager's homes,"she informed Ermolai. "I expect full corporation. Please ensure that your underlings give me that at least."

Ermolai frowned. "Very well… Perhaps you would like to start at the outer ridge of the village? To best assure that they would make no escape?"It was hard to tell, being unable to see her eyes, but Ira seemed to be looking at the Vademon with some suspicion. "It would be wise, yes… your village is small, leaving very few exits. I start now."

As the words left her mouth, she melded into the shadows, disappearing from site. The only thing that kept Kaoru's gasp of shock at bay was Athanas's paw over her mouth. As it was, the pair looked and felt trapped. They didn't need to actually be trapped…


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter has a few more aspects related to Digital Dreams. Hopefully you'll read and enjoy. :) I have had fun writing this fanfiction.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

It was midmorning now and there was a tension throughout the whole village. Everyone was on edge but luckily no had sold out Kaoru and Athanas. That's what the pair had to go one; Ira hadn't broken down their door, at the very least. But still, there was a heaviness to the air and it made the tamer and Digimon pair snappish and irritable. Lack of news was beginning to wear them thin.

"Stop your pacing,"growled Athanas, eyes narrowed. Kaoru ignored him for the most part though she did hesitate in her circular motion around the small shed to glare at her partner. Slowly she rung her hands, trying to work out her nerves and figure out what they were going to do. Who knew how far Ira had gotten in the village? How were they going to escape this unscathed? The only good thing about this situation was that her ankle was feeling much better as compared to yesterday.

Ermolai had bought them time; time that they should use to devise a plan.

"We've got to get out of here,"she said sternly, twirling to look at her partner. He passed her a dry look and shook his head.

"Really? Hadn't thought of that."

Kaoru's face puffed into an angry scowl before she twisted away, turning her back to him. She didn't grace his snide remarks with a response and instead began to examine the floor boards. They could possibly dig their way out…

_Doubtful but its nice to think about…_

"It too bad you aren't a mole,"Kaoru said, squatting down and poking around the floorboards. "Or I don't have a spoon. This is like those old movies where people try and escape prison!" Her voice got higher pitched with excitement. All she had to do is think positive and things would work out.

"A mole?"Athanas said, his voice suddenly a different, indefinable tone. "What does a-"

The door to their small home suddenly burst open and the closed so suddenly that the pair jumped and immediately preformed two completely different reactions. Kaoru backed into the wall and stared, with wide mismatched eyes. Meanwhile, Athanas turned and snarled, ready for battle. Both were all for not, however.

The intruder was a familiar one and fairly welcomed. Theo stood in the doorway, back leaning back against the wooden slab. He looked left and then right before exhaling. "The Sangloupmon had already passed my home,"he explained. "She's still not close to the center but she's getting closer. I had to hide these-" He fumbled with a small, clothe coin purse and finally managed to pull a card from it, flicking it out before Kaoru with his claws. "-before she found them. They might help you!"

Kaoru's expression grew confused but Athanas seemed excited. "How did you manage to keep this safe for so long, Theo?"he said, shuffling over and taking the card and looking at. "I thought for sure that they destroyed them all."

The Agumon beamed. "It wasn't easy,"he said proudly. "I just hope it'll help you out of this mess you've ended up in. I can't read human so-"

"How is a card going to help us out of this?"Kaoru interrupted, looking annoyed. They were in serious trouble and these two were busy fawning over some stupid card? Any second now, some psycho wolf could come after them and make them a snack! And how dare Athanas roll his eyes at her and look at her like she was some kind of naïve child!

She stomped her foot and narrowed her eyes at them. Athanas narrowed his eyes back but any retort he may have had to his tamers idiocy was thankfully cut off by Theo. Had the Black Gabumon managed his statement, undoubtedly they would have been caught.

"Cards allow you to modify your partners data just a little bit, human,"he said. "Or they used to. There aren't many around anymore; after the humans left, we Digimon didn't have a use for them anymore and they just stopped appearing. A lot of been destroyed but many are still out there-just really really hard to find! But a lot the cards could make your partner stronger and give them an edge on the battle field. Like this one might help you escape!" He grew even more excited and jerked the card from Athanas's paws. It was quickly passed to Kaoru who leaned over to read card was definitely older but she could tell at one time it had been in good, shining condition. The glossy finish had long sense faded though and the edges were a little frayed. On the front, there was a picture of a pair of wings attached to a harness like thing that obviously went over someone's shoulders and a bow and a quiver with three arrows. All the items in the picture were brilliantly white and gold. Underneath the picture, was what seemed to be some kind of information on the card.

**Name:** Angels' Arsenal

**Number:** C49

**Type:** Weapon

**Duration:** 1 Turn/Until the arrows are fired

**Effect:** Grants one of the user's Digimon a pair of angel wings, a bow and three arrows. These arrows have power equal to a regular attack of the Digimon's level. The wings are only usable for one turn, but the arrows last until they are used up.

"So… this card'll make Athanas fly?"she asked, flipping the card over to examine the back. It was light blue with a darker blue strip along the edge of the card. She held up her d-ban and examined it, noticing that there was a slot where the card should fit.

Catching where her gaze was, Athanas placed his paw on her hand with the card. "Don't use it yet, silly girl,"he said. "First we need to get that skylight open." His gaze drifted up and looked toward the glass. "Which will take some work. Also, how long does the card last?"

"Uh…"Kaoru looked at the card closely. "One turn…"

From the scowl on Athanas's face, she could only assume that wasn't extremely long. "That means we have to get this skylight open and the attempt to fly as far as possible… Theo, care to lend me your head?"

The Agumon frowned but obliged, moving under the glass window. He cupped his claws together to give the Black Gabumon a leg up. Athanas placed his paw in it and pulled himself up. Theo groaned and winced as his fellow Digimon balanced carefully on his head. Kaoru was supportive, her eyes going wide.

"Uni! Becareful! Don't fall!"

"Uni? Its Athanas!"

He squinted and reached up with his claws, stretching on his toes to reach. However the pair just weren't tall enough together. He growled and thought over his possibilities.

"Uni is cuter and easier to say!"He rolled his eyes and instead continue to think. Frowning, he came to a conclusion and lowered his head. He then pushed off of Theo's head sharply and slammed his horn right though the wooden frame of the window. The skylight popped off and flew backwards over the flat roof. He landed with a thud back on the floor, stumbling a bit but pleased.

"Now we have a way out."

"Yay~ Now I can swipe the card?"she asked eagerly, wanting to see this stuff in action.

Athanas sighed. "Yes, you can-"

She didn't wait for him to finish speaking before sliding the card through the slot. Nothing happened at first, confusing her. She looked at her d-ban screen.

**PROCESSING…**

**APPROVED…**

**Card added to database.**

The screen flashed to a list with only a single item on it. She zoomed in and realized that it was her card. "Heeey! It saved the card and everything! Neat!"she said excitedly, smiling and tapping the card. It brought up another menu screen with a few more options. She hit the one at the top that said Use.

As she did, light sprouted from Athanas's back and slowly detailed themselves into a pair of white wings. At the same time a bow and quiver settled on his back as well with the three aforementioned arrows. He gave the wings an exploratory flap before nodding. "Kaoru, get on my back,"he said, turning his back to her.

Kaoru wasted little time and settled onto her partner's back in much the same position she had arrived to this village in. There was a bit of nervous giddiness in her at the prospect of flight. She'd never flown anywhere, at least not when she could remember. When she was a baby, her family had flown to Japan to meet her okaa-san's kaa-san, obaa-chan, but she had been very small then.

"Don't drop me, Uni,"she whispered a little frightened. He glanced back at her before nodding. His gaze turned to Theo.

"Try to be a distraction."

It was the last thing Athanas said before his wings stretched and they went soaring through the open window.

* * *

As it was, Theo's distracting skills left something to be desired. And as it was, they didn't get as far as Athanas would have liked. They made it to the edge of the small village before the card's affect wore out and forced them to land. The arrows and bow remained but the wings disappeared in a flurry of glowing data.

"Merde!"Kaoru swore, sliding from Athanas's back. If things weren't already bad, it was that moment that the duo realized that Theo's distraction skills sucked too.

"_Sticker Blade!"_

"Get down!"

A scream wrenched the air and Kaoru was shoved to the ground as a dozen or so blades sliced through Athanas's sides and arms. The Black Gabumon snarled, his hackles raised as Ira burst from the shadows, her long silky tail whipping through the air. The two virus types squared off, facing each other down. Kaoru's d-ban began to blink off the hook, reading off battle statistics.

She stood and stumbled away from the two, looking at the machine. The first thing on screen seemed to be basic information about Sangloupmon battle stats.

**SANGLOUPMON**

**Attack: | | | |**

**Defense: | |**

**Speed: | | | | |**

Athanas's stats followed.

**GABUMON BLACK**

**Attack: | | | |**

**Defense: | | | |**

**Speed: | |**

"Blue Fire!"Kaoru yelped as a stream of bright blue flames sizzled from her partner's muzzle, blazing a trail over the grass and blackening it. Ira's lips curled, half in a smirk and half in a growl before she faded into the shadows once more, leaving the attack to strike the grass she once stood at.

Athanas tensed, red eyes darting around the area, searching. A flash caught his eye and he twirl to meet it, maw opening to send another gout of flames sizzling though the air. Whatever it was had moved once again, however and rose up on the other side of the BlackGabumon. Another barrage of blades swished through the air. Athanas was more fleeted footed this time and managed to stumble from the path.

Growing frustrated he backed up. "Stay down Kaoru,"he snapped. She squeaked and kept her head down . Ira had disappeared after her attack, leaving him no target. Now, instead he began to twirl on his foot. It was a burrowed attack from his vaccine cousin. He opened his maw and allowed a barrage of blue flames to spring forth. The flames soared through the air, hitting everything in their paths. Every shadow was struck until a yelp sounded in the air.

Ira reappeared, silky fur on fire. Athanas stopped his Blue Cyclone attack and darted forward, his horn lowered. His balance was off but he still tried to catch the distracted canine Digimon off guard with his Horn Attack. He succeeded, slamming his sharp horn into her chest.

She screeched, pained by it and quickly disappeared into the nearest shadow. The wound was deep and pained her greatly. She fled for now, but not before memorizing the human girl's scent. She would track them down and return them to Zuriel.

Athanas stood, and sucked in a breath, willing away the dizziness and nausea. He wasn't given much chance before Kaoru tackled him in a tight hug. He grunted and looked at her with an arched brow.

"You did it, Uni!"

* * *

Caleb had been walking for quite awhile, his coat pulled tight around him. It was about mid November now and the air was growing bitterly cold. He had packed a blanket in case he had to sleep outside but now he wondered if that would be enough. Hotel fares were fairly high if he stayed somewhere nice. He could risk heading into the rough part of town though and have a cheap room for the night…

He wrinkled his nose. Sleeping in an alley was about as safe and comfortable though.

A biting wind whipped through the area and he hunched his shoulders a bit against it. He narrowed his eyes and huffed under his breath, watching a white cloud billow out. A little smile played at his lips as he thought of winters when he was younger, playing in the snow, throwing snow balls at his mom and…

The smile melted away and his lips thinned. _His dad._ Her dad now. He crammed his hands into his pockets and squeezed them around his phone. He had blocked his parent's number so that it would hang up as soon as one of them called. As for the tracker, he had carefully removed that months before, his talent with electronics coming in handy. They wouldn't find him unless he chose to come home.

Which he never would.

'_It's not like there's much family there anyway.'_

He kept walking, even as the snow began to fall and pepper his brown spikey hair with white flurries. His green eyes stared ahead, not giving the other passerbys a second glance. One such person seemed to take great notice him, however. It was a tall person(they looked to be close to seven feet) in a cloak of red satin with a yellow hood. They had perfectly round yellow eyes and there were two strips of their hood hanging down their back that could almost pass for wings in the right light. Tied to their back was a massive tomb in some kind of writing that would not be familiar to any human.

This interesting, unique character had grabbed Caleb's shoulder and pulled him over to a nearby alley before the boy could really react. He sucked in a sharp breath, ready to scream when a second hand clamped over his mouth. Whoever this was had him in an iron grip and equally had him paralyzed with fear. What were they going to do to him?

Through the never-ending darkness in the hood, he could see an open mouth smirk with blinding white teeth glowing. "Entspannen Sie sich, mein Freund,"said the creature in a surprisingly female voice. Caleb had begun taking German his freshmen year of high school and could understand fairly well what the stranger had said. That didn't make him feel any better. He continued to stare at the her with wide green eyes until a surprisingly girlish giggle pulled him out of his stunned stupor.

He pulled at the grip on his shoulder but the woman simply slammed him against the wall, holding him there. Then, in startling English. "I didn't say you could leave."

She moved her hand from his mouths lowly, watching him with her sharp eyes. "You're Caleb right?"she asked, watching his face.

"Yes! What do you want from me?"he growled, no longer struggling; what was the point when whoever this was, was so much stronger than he? He'd have to escape when he got the chance…

"I'm Zwitter and I do believe I want to give you a place to stay tonight."

* * *

**Zwitter and Athanas © Me**

**Caleb © Aqua-chan**

**Kaoru © Vn70072**

**Angels' Arsenal © Digital Dreams**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The journey to their next destination was spent with Zwitter towering over Caleb, her bony hand keeping a tight grip on his shoulder. Clearly she didn't trust the boy not to flee the first chance he got. Clearly she was far more intelligent than your average thug.

The whole trip was spent in tense silence with Zwitter seemingly calm and relaxed throughout and Caleb tense and, though he'd never admit it, scared. He didn't know what she had in store for him; if she decided to do anything, he wouldn't be able to stop her. Not only that, but the simple fact he couldn't see her face or expression only intensified his terror.

Suddenly, the boy realized that running away at night wasn't the smartest idea. Perhaps he should have simply fled to his Uncle Cyrus's home and hid out there. Uncle Cyrus had never married and lead a quiet life with his roommate, a fellow bachelor in his late forty's, almost fifties. Cyrus and the man were like night and day.

His Uncle was a quiet, shy person but often allowed Caleb to stay the night with him when the boy became too uncomfortable with home; he didn't quell under his step father's fury or buckle under his mother's worry. Even his father's questing concern didn't shake him. He simply smiled and assured them that Caleb was safe and that he would take care of him.

His roommate was a man with great wealth and was extremely greedy about it. He was talkative and charismatic and always had a grin the size of Russia on his face. Normally he was gone out a lot and he came back smelling like booze and cigarettes. He even offered some to Caleb once(but only once; his Uncle had through a fit about it when he found out and threatened to boot the man out).

Both were kind and warm… and at the this point anything familiar would be welcome.

Caleb's cold fingers clenched on his back pack straps as they passed into the bad part of town; the part he had originally wanted to avoid. His fear escalated and he felt his legs freeze up.

Zwitter noticed his hesitation and stopped, glancing at him. Through the darkness of her hood, a toothy grin flitted across her face. "Don't be a Angst Katze,"she taunted, making him briefly bristle with annoyance. "You're with me; no one is stupid enough to mess with a seven foot tall, cloaked figure." The annoyance faded with her words and instead turned to embarrassment. He hadn't actually thought of it like that and he was grateful his face was already red from the cold air.

Zwitter snickered before turning them into a large building. It was one of the older buildings made of brick and mortar and it looked to be abandoned. The two companions passed through the creaky wooden door that really only held on by one hinge and into what looked like a lobby of some sorts.

It was drafty but Caleb could tell at one time it was actually respectable. Now it smelled like piss and decay with patchy red carpet and a rotting mahogany desk. The wallpaper was peeling, revealing a stark white painted wall with water stains. Broken chairs that were cushy at one time(now all the stuffing had been pulled out of them and springs were poking through the ornate fabric) were scattered about. In the corner, close to a set of stairs, there was a dead plant, wilting and brown and its clay pot cracked.

They didn't linger in the decrepit lobby and instead turned off to the side, heading up the step to the first floor. The stairs creaked ominously, making Caleb nervous. Zwitter seemed unworried about the weakened state of the steps even if she probably provided the most weight.

The landing they came out on extended into a short hallway that turned left, undoubtedly making a square that came back around to another set of steps at the other side. There wasn't a carpet on the floor; just cracked, reeking wood. The walls were dark but there wasn't a light on up here. In the lobby, there had been a small lamp on behind the desk and that was the extent of it. Here, in this corridor, there was no light.

Unconsciously, Caleb moved closer to Zwitter, uncomfortable with the dark and chilly air. Admittedly, it was warmer in here than outside but not by extremely much. The taller figure grinned and turned them to the first door on the left. She opened it and nudged Caleb in before closing the door behind them.

Instantly, the boy could tell that Zwitter must have been staying here; the room was an apartment, as Caleb guessed but it wasn't quite in the same disarray as the rest of the building was. For starters, the floors were clean. Not polished but at the very least clean; the entire apartment seemed to have hardwood flooring through out, with the exception of the kitchen and bathroom. Those had linoleum that was cracked and crinkling up at the edges of the room.

The room they currently stood in, appeared to be a living room but just off to the side of it was the kitchen and down the hall was an open door that allowed Caleb to see the bathroom. The living room had a big, clean plush couch with a spring sticking out at the far end. There was a scraggly, mismatched arm chair next to it and a wobbly coffee table with a book underneath it.

In the kitchen, there were clean but worn wood countertops with a sink built in the top and oven and fridge making a gap between them. Surprisingly, Caleb could hear the hum of the fridge from here. He felt his stomach gurgle in response to it and reached his hand into his pocket to find out the time on his phone. The time flashed as ten o' clock and a wave of exhaustion passed over him to go along with his new found hunger.

He felt boney hands pulling at his back pack and simply allowed it to be pulled off him, too worn from the days events to really care; it was just Zwitter. If she was going to steal from him, she wouldn't have brought him to her home to do it.

"Make yourself comfortable, mein Freund,"she said easily, placing his bag by the couch. "There should be some food in the fridge. After you've eaten, clean up; you stink. Then come join me here on the couch."

* * *

Caleb had managed a pair of ham sandwiches and a lukewarm shower before he returned to the living area in his flannel pajamas. Zwitter was seated on the end of the couch opposite the protruding spring with her large book spread open wide on the table top. The poor coffee table creaked and groaned every time she turned a page but she ignored its complaining and only looked up when Caleb lowered himself into the seat next to her.

She closed her book and turned to Caleb, the blackness of her hood keeping her face indistinguishable. Primly her hands landed in her lap and briefly, Caleb could believe that there really was a woman under that hideous red cloak.

Her eyes crinkled in what he could guess was a smile before she began to speak. "Caleb, you ran away from home," she informed him and he tensed a bit. She had never explained how she knew him but then again, he'd been too frightened to ask.

"Ho-"

"That's not important right now. What is important is that you listen and answer accordingly."

Caleb was about to protest when her hand fell over his mouth and she gave him a sharp glare. "Halt den Mund," she growled before removing her hand. He was thankfully quiet this time but continued to give her a sour look. She smirked and continued.

"I don't have much time here,"she explained. "I'll probably be gone by morning; when you wake, I suggest you start heading somewhere else. Staying here another night without me here could be dangerous to your health, ya' know?"

Caleb's lips twitched and he knew what she meant. He rubbed his thumb idly over the soft pant legs of his pajama bottoms and continued to listen. Whatever Zwitter had to say was apparently important and for some strange reason, he couldn't help but trust her. She'd yet to lead him astray.

"Leave tomorrow," she said again, more firmly. "I'm leaving enough food for you to have breakfast and that's it. Now, a question; have there been any missing children lately? Any at all?"

Caleb narrowed his eyes at her and his lips thinned. "Claire Evans has disappeared and so has her friend Kaoru Yumi," he said, suspicion coloring his voice. "Why?"

"Never you mind. Just… be prepared for anything."

* * *

Not long after Zwitter's cryptic message, she forced Caleb to bed, tucking him into one of the back bedrooms before fleeing to the living room. The boy didn't know how long he lay awake, head buzzing and trying to sort everything that had transpired that day. Like running away, though he wasn't really too concerned about that.

More than that, he couldn't help but lay awake thinking over Zwitter's words and attempt to puzzle out what the other being(he was sure she wasn't human; he hadn't even seen her face!) was up to and what she had to do with Claire and Kaoru's mysterious disappearance. As of right now, the main guess had been serial kidnapper…

His stomach dropped like a lead stone. Was that what Zwitter was? If so, he had walked right into her clutches!

… then again, she'd already said she was leaving by tomorrow… Where was she going? How could she just leave him here? And why did he feel so close to her after only a few hours? It was like they had bonded quickly, despite her first frightening appearance and her sharp tongue. Perhaps that was one of the things that drew him to her the most.

He wasn't being vain when he said he was book smart; he was intelligent, breezing through his classes. And Zwitter seemed like the same kind of intelligence only magnified by time and space. It was awe-inspiring…

Caleb blinked lazily and rolled over on his side, briefly feeling homesick. It was only for a second(so he'd tell anyone that asked) before the anger and bitterness swept it away and he closed his eyes with a huff. He fell into a sleep after that, though whether it was restful restless really didn't matter; it was dreamless.

* * *

When Claire opened her eyes, it wasn't to the same walls she'd left back on the transport pad. Instead it was a vast, wide open field with thick, tall grass. The air was breezy and fresh smelling and the sun was still creeping up over the horizon. She blinked, a little blinded by its bright rays but also a little confused.

It had been late into the school day when she arrived here; about one in the afternoon. And thanks the shorter days of winter, one was pretty late in the day. Had she been up on the moon that long? Or was time functioning differently here? How the hell did this all work out in the great scheme of things?

"Dammit. He still hasn't worked it out."

She turned around and looked down, spying Karel at her feet. The cub was looking around the greenery with a crinkled expression on his mug. "He dropped us in the Grassy Plains," he groused. "It wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't dropped us close to edge, if the heat is any indicator."

Here came Claire's second conundrum; it was frickin' hot. She huffed and fanned her jacket out before tugging it off. She tied it around her waist carefully before reaching in and tugging out her necklace. It usually went unseen by most people but it had gotten fairly hot during the transportation and she wanted it off her chest.

The trinket was nothing special to look at for most people; just a simple shark's tooth on a black leather cord. To Claire, however, it meant as much as a possession could. Anything from Kaoru always did.

"Oi, Giraffe," Karel called up gruffly. "Squat down here and lemme see the Mark II."

Claire narrowed her eyes and complied but not before sending the feline a frosty glare. "Don't call me giraffe, puss," she grumbled before holding the device out to the annoying feline. Karel gave her a flat expression before tapping on the covering with his tail.

It slid away and the Liollmon was flying through the many menus. "I was a pencil pusher on the moon so I don't know what the Digital World actually looks like; I can't get us from point A to point B without a map. Which is riiiiiight…"

He jabbed the screen with his tail and a picture appeared on screen of a rounded flat disc that Claire recognized as the Digital World. A bright red little dot blinked on the edge of a large green area, just in front of a sandy brown area. The map itself was fairly simplified and from what she could see, there were eleven areas total with an ocean surrounding it. In the center, was a large city and at the top and bottom of that city was a range of mountains that split the bottom part in half. At the base of the mountains was a frozen wasteland that gave way to a length of beach on either side; the beach stretched around the whole circular island.

At the top, instead of a frozen wasteland, it was a fiery one surrounding the mountains. Volcanoes bubbled and lava broiled. Her observation of the map was interrupted by Karel exiting it.

"We're in the Grassy Plains," he explained. "But we're at the edge furthest from the city and there aren't any near by Trailmon Stations. So we're walking. Follow me." He began to slink through the grass, heading straight ahead of them. Claire's lips twitched before she moved to follow him, using her longer stride to catch up and come up even with her partner.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky now and Claire could guess that it was noon by their shadows. They'd not stopped to rest yet but it didn't really bother the stoic girl. She was never one to be bothered with complaining or whining; generally speaking she was the one who listened to the whining.

Kaoru wasn't known for being as sturdy as Claire herself; often Claire was the one to be her backbone and keep her going. As she stumbled, Claire realized that maybe things hadn't changed too much.

"Watch it, dear," Karel grumbled. "I'm tired. We're stopping for the day." He'd laid down in the thick grass and was now rolling around in the green blades, stretching his large paws out and splaying the toes. The fresh, natural air left him feel lazy and sleepy; nothing new, now that he thought about it.

Claire furrowed her brow and glared at him, back stepping over him. She nudged his side with her foot and watched him roll with it. "We can't stop now," she said, trying a new tactic. "We still have daylight."

The Liollmon gave her a bored expression. "Your point?"

"We should keep going. I want to get to civilization."

Karel snorted and rolled onto his side, his back facing her. "We'll get there," he said. "Cool your jets. It's not like there's anything out here worth worrying about…" As he spoke his ears twitched and swiveled, listening to the air.

"I say that… I suggest getting down and hiding in the grass, love," he said rolling onto his belly and crawling further into the grass. "Quickly." As his words rolled out of his mouth a screech ripped through the air. A feeling of panic fluttered in Claire's stomach and she dropped to her hands and knees.

As she did, a great shadow passed over followed by a great gust of wind. She bit her tongue to stop herself from crying out in surprise and looked up to see a great orange bird fluttering over head, beak snaggled with large teeth. It had tiny black eyes that scanned the area.

Of its own accord, her Mark II whirred to life, the cover zipping back and flipping to an app.

**Welcome to the Digital Analyzer. This application gives the user a brief overview of any Digimon they may run into. Add to favorites?**

**y/n**

With out really thinking about she tapped yes, too nervous to really care.

**Thank you.**

**Species: Birdramon**

**Level: Adult**

**Type: Giant Bird**

**Attribute: Data, Vaccine**

**Field: Nature Spirits, Wind Guardians**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

Next to none of it really made sense to her but it was still nice to know what the hell to call the nasty fluttering bird. As she laid there, waiting for the bird to leave, she realized the air had heated up and, upon closer inspection, she realized the bird was on fire. Tendrils of fiery feathers fluttered from its body in two long ribbons from its head and its tail burned brightly.

The bird screeched again before soaring over their head again, heading back toward the desert. Claire sat there tensely, sweat rolling down the side of her face. She didn't move until Karel bumped his nose against her and even then, her hand flew to her pocket to grip at her hand me down pocket knife.

"Easy, easy there, love,"he said soothingly. "Birdbrain is gone. We can get up and go."

The girl's hand tightened around the pocket knife before releasing it; she'd never pulled it out of her pocket but it was still nice to know it was still there. Her mother had given that to her when she was ten and it was important to her, like the necklace. Sucking in deep breath, she pushed herself up to her feet shakily.

Karel stood close, waiting patiently for her to stand. "Quite the first experience with Digimon other than myself and Seph, eh?"he said with a little smirk. "I think we'll keep moving after all. I didn't know the Birdramon and Sabirdramon had started coming in and hunting here too; the desert usually is their preferred home because of the heat."

She understood bits and pieces of that but only nodded, sucking in a deep breath. The pair began to walk once more and she was grateful for something to do. Claire wanted to be doing something to work off the extra adrenaline and if it meant getting out of here, she'd happily do it.

"How about I give you some info, eh? I saw you discovered the Digimon Analyzer… I can explain some of the terms."

"Yeah… Yeah that sounds good…"

* * *

**Caleb (C) Aqua-chan  
Claire, Zwitter, Karel (C) Me**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Mm. Man. That's like… the third kid this week."

"Yeah, parents just can't keep up with their kids!"

The group of misfits laughed shoving and knocking into each other as they walked through town. A newspaper was crumpled between them, passed around, ripped, and wrinkled before someone-who didn't matter-dropped it in a bin on the way past. The motley crew was every shape and color; not every gender, however. The group was strictly testosterone based.

All the members of the little crew were between the age of thirteen and eighteen and none of them really had parents to worry. The center of this group was a seventeen year old with dark skin and light, playful orange eyes. He had a grin a mile wide and his clothes consisted of an open button up shirt, dark red in color, with a lighter red t-shirt underneath. His pants were a warm brown color with rips and tatters along the sides. Perched on his black hair, he wore a flapped beanie that covered his ears. His red sneakers were just as scuffed and dirty as that of his crew.

"Aw, com'on guys,"he said, laughter tinkling somewhere on the edge of his voice. "It's just two. Even the parents of that last kid said that he probably ran away."

"Yeah, but its still spooky how he was related to that girl that went missing."

"Oh hell yes! Like some kinda psycho, government conspiracy!"

The boy laughed as he reached into his pocket, fingering his phone. It was an older flip phone; he got it from a buddy who recently got an upgrade. Tugging it out, he pressed a button on the fire engine red device and examined the time. "Oh, well, lookie there, fellas," he said, smirking. "I've got a phone call to make. I'll be seein' ya'."

He stopped and started to backtrack out of the group, all white teeth and sparkling eyes. He twirled on his foot and started to walk away to the cries of,"Aww!" and "Bye, TomTom!" He moved at a jog down the side walk, his gait some what loping with legs that were longer than the rest of him. As he went, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open in time to answer an incoming call.

He put it to his ear and said sunnily, "You're like clockwork, my friend."

The voice on the other end didn't grace his cheery sarcasm with a remark and instead dove right into the subject it had called to discuss. "Have you made a decision, human?" said a staticy voice on the other end. "We grow impatient for a response and if you don't provide an adequate answer, we will be forced to assume that it is an affirmative."

The boy had slowed to a lazy stroll during the course of the caller's words and now pocketed his spare hand, a smirk curling his face. "Easy there, slick. For starters, call me Thomas. It's kinda rude to call something its species; especially something intelligent enough to form words. How would you feel if I went around calling you Digimon or Digital Monster?"

The voice growled lowly. "Keep your voice down; need I remind you of the presences of those who have knowledge of us and our world's existence? If one of them heard-"

"Yeah, yeah. If one of them heard, they might try to force information out of me and return to the Digital World. Geeze, you're like a broken record that says the same damn thing at the same damn time everyday; its fascinating, actually!"

Thomas stopped and stepped into an alleyway, off the main side walk; the crowd had thickened and while Thomas was unconcerned with anyone over hearing him, he didn't like large crowds while he was on the phone. He leaned against the side of one of the buildings and tapped his foot to music rolling out of one of the speakers outside the large brick building. It was some oldy that still managed to be a favorite of many, even younger people.

"Are you taking any of this seriously? This situation is of high severity and deserves the utmost maturity. And do not mock me, Thomas."

Tom stilled his hand which had been mouthing and bopping along to whatever the voice said was saying like some naked sock puppet. He stifled a little snorting laugh with a foxy grin. "Yeah, yeah, I'm taking it seriously,"he said. "I seriously considered your offer."

"And?"

"…And I guess I could give it a try. It would be fun to disappear from town for a while. Stir up my life, live adventurously. Ya' feel?"

"Just prepare for arrival."

"What? No-"

If anyone asked what happened to Thomas, no one would say he was sucked into his phone which then, consequently, sucked itself up.

* * *

Thomas was spiraling through a stream of light and wires, ones and zeroes flying past his head. He grasped and gagged, air whipping by him. It was a miracle his hat remained on his head as he spun through the current, heading god knows where. His phone whizzed by him, engulfed in the tiny binary code. It was quickly broken down and the reassembled in the shape of something like a small rectangle of the same fire engine red color.

Thomas was given very little time to really examine the newly reconfigured device before he was thrust through a portal. He landed on his face in the grass, groaning loudly in pain. "What the hell?" he grumbled slowly sitting up; slowly both because he was in pain and because he felt nauseous. Looking around, he realized he was still in a jungle; simply not the same kind of jungle he had left.

All around him large trees and shrubbery towered and the entire place smelled tropical and humid. The area was mostly green but there were patches of blossoming flowers that sprung to life, some quite literally springing. Upon close examination, Tom could see a few of them actually walking around, laughing and talking amongst themselves.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes. "Mm… man. Gotta lay off the tough stuff," he said to himself. He paused and looked around the ground around him, searching for his phone. In his search, his eyes fell upon a large white paw. He followed it up a well muscled leg and over wide hips and a furry white chest to the vixen-like face of some creature.

"Lemme guess," he said. "You're a Digimon. Are you the one that spoke to me over my now missing phone?"

The fox's nose twitched and a long fluffy tail twirled through the air. "I'm afraid not,"said a female voice. "I am Emer-"

"-and I'm Berk!"

A rounded, puppy like face peaked around the fuzzy face of Emer to stare at Tom with wide, spunky green eyes. The pup was creamy in color with flushed pink cheeks and a little black nose. It was painfully adorable to look at with its floppy ears and little grin.

"And I'm Min."

Another head poked out from around Emer, this one decidedly less cute and more on the sinister side. There was a wide grin curling its features and it was mostly purple in color. It had the strangest eyes; they were black with blue rings for irises. Odd red markings arched over the eyes like brows and a clownish orange collar encircled its "neck", Thomas didn't count it as have anything really but a mouth and head because the "body" was a series of finger like protrusions that wriggled from time to time. Spindly arms and large hands swayed at the monstrosity's side, one such, swinging out to deposit his phone-turned-red-rectangle in his lap.

"And that is yours," the odd creature said before fluttering away, somehow moving without actually touching the ground. It twirled in the air before flipping completely upside down and hanging suspended there, horrible grin still in place.

"We were sent to watch after you," the, thankfully less frightening, pup said bouncing down from its perch. The fox just shook her head and watched her parasite leave with apathy. Berk, meanwhile, settled in Thomas's lap, look up at him excitedly. "We're your partners!"

"Partners, eh… three of you…" the boy murmured before reaching down to run a thumb over the cool, compact device that Min had passed him. The red casing was metallic and had a shield emblem pressed into it. Running his thumb along the edge, Thomas found he could fit his nail into a seam in the middle of his new toy. He flicked the device up and open, revealing two screens, both of which lighting up immediately to show a welcome screen of some kind on the top screen.

**Welcome, Thomas Hawking, to your Data Stream Liner or DSL. Please assure that all information below is correct before proceeding.**

Information filed onto the bottom screen and it was then that Thomas realized that the device had no buttons if one didn't count a single on the very top.

_Touch screen?_

**Name: Thomas "Tom" "TomTom" Hawking**

**Gender: Male**

**Age: 17**

**Partners: Berk(Plotmon), Emer(Renamon), Min(Keramon)**

**OKAY - CANCEL**

From the side of the DSL, a pen emerged, offering itself to its master. Tom blinked, momentarily taken about before taking the pen in his right hand. He looked up, seemingly doing role call and shrugged. He tapped okay and the screens went blank. Then across the top:

**APPROVED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.**

Followed by a series of choices to visit on the bottom screen.

**MAIN MENU - E-MAIL - INTERNET  
**

Not knowing what else to do, he tapped on the main menu first, despite the little letter symbol blinking at him from the e-mail button. That was the nice thing about e-mails; you could ignore them. In his lap, Berk bounced up, peering at the DSL's screens.

"Oh oh! Pick that one!" he said excitedly, pointing toward the first on the list.

"Is that the Digimon Reader?" Min asked, fluttering around to look over Thomas's shoulder. Thomas frowned as Emer joined him, striding over with purpose on her powerful legs. Her head lowered to eye the screen, the white fur of her chest tickling his ear.

He leaned away from her, frowning a little and backed out of the main menu. What he had seen there had been more or less an apps page. Instead he moved to check his e-mail, wondering who in the hell sent it.

**Thomas Human,**

**You know what your decision entails. Min, Berk, and Emer are there to help guide you and keep you on your task. We will be watching you carefully.**

"Ah. So you three are-"

"Partners!"

"Body Guards."

"Babysitters…"

The three Digimon announced their answers about the same second, Berk with exuberance, Emer with plaintive patience, and Min with quiet annoyance. Thomas couldn't help the little laugh at them. He closed his DSL and pocketed it before standing up, arms wrapped around Berk as he went.

"Okay, partners, body guards, and babysitters. Let's go."

* * *

A chapter where all the characters are actually mine. 8D Go me. Anyway, read and enjoy. 3 I'm pleased that someone actually came to Digital Dreams and asked me if I would continue to up date here. J It was a pleasant surprise and to answer them, I shall probably try. Me and Iterum hit a road block and we are trying to get through it. Also, have I ever mentioned how much fucks up the formatting?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The walk to the Digital City had taken the rest of the day and the pair had arrived in the city around dusk. The city was quite unremarkable if you ignored the denizens. Claire had spent very little time in the Digital World so one could only imagine her shock at the wide variety of Digimon. They came in every shape, size, and color. Some had feathers, others had fur and still others had scales.

The Mark II had a nice little feature that allowed her to turn the Digimon Analyzer on automatic; since their arrival in the bustling city it had been going crazy and thanks to Karel's explanation, Claire could take all in strides. She was quickly filing away the names of the various species. Everytime her Mark II beeped, she would look down at it to see a new Digimon up.

She was enjoying herself for the most part. The crowd, somehow, felt less stifling than the one back home, though the residents seemed more nosey. Claire in particular had noticed a rather interesting, slinky white Digimon tailing them, golden eyes watch them pass with curiosity. The Mark II kept up its excellent job of informing her and provided information on the weasely Digimon.

**Species: Kudamon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Holy Beast**

**Attribute: Vaccine**

**Field: Virus Busters**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

Claire said nothing about her discovery just yet but as they entered a particular noisy street, she spoke.

"There's a Kudamon following us,"she said under her breath, confident that Karel would hear her. He did but made no comment, blue eyes glancing back to catch a glimpse of silky white fur disappearing behind a stall. His black lined lips twitched.

"Worry not about her,"Karel said. "She is just checking to make sure I got you to the city okay… which, we should be find a place to stay tonight. It is getting dark."

Claire glanced at him. "Which way do we go then?"she asked, casting a searching eye around the massive buildings. There were an innumerable places for them to go but the question was, which one of these was actually a hotel or apartments?

This seemed to give Karel food for thought, as he paused and eyed the surroundings carefully. He'd come into the actual Digital City very little, having spent most of his time on the Digital World's moon. He supposed this left him at a disadvantage because he had absolutely no idea where they were.

Halted in his pace, he finally examined their surroundings and realized that the majority of Digimon surrounding them were virus types. Seedy looking vendors watched them from shop windows and from an alley, a small group of child level and adult level Digimon watched them with gleaming red eyes and smirks. Oh yessss… they were in deep…

"Er… Claire, hold on… we might need to turn around."

He glanced behind them and muttered a curse under his breath. His comrade was already gone, dashing off probably to report back to the moon that they'd arrived. She assumed that he knew where he was going and what he was doing. Karel could only feel bitter for once that she let handle things for once…

"What makes you think we'll let you turn around now, Kitty?"

On its hind legs a confidently smirking beast strutted forth, red eyes glittering. It was mostly periwinkle with a pair of long rabbit like ears, tattered at the end with thick fur. A long, whip like tail twined in the air, bristly strands at the end, separated by the rest of the fur by a black leather belt. It had a short, rounded snout, much like a cats, with serrated sharp teeth that Claire could see in its wide grin. The beastly mongrel had an off white belly and long dagger-like claws adorned every paw.

The beast looked impressive but the Mark II weakened his intimidation by about three fourths.

**Species: Gazimon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Mammal**

**Attribute: Virus**

**Field: Nature Spirits, Nightmare Soldiers**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

Karel's ears flicked back and he wrinkles his nose, not appreciating the kitty comment. "I hardly think it matters to you, Gazimon,"he bit out, his mistrust for the species bubbling up with hate. The fur along the back of his neck bristled raising and his tail lashed from side to side, his claws scraping against the ground in an irate manner.

Instead of the Gazimon cowering, it laughed, loud and low and hearty, head thrown back and ears flicked back. Karel snarled, tail fluffed and the small tuft of fur upon his head bristling. All his pearly whites were visible but still the bastard had the gall, the audacity to laugh in his face.

"Oh-haha-you're a funny one, Kitty,"he said, a clawed paw covering his face. He leaned forward, psychotic grin still on place, half concealed by one of his massive paw. "You sure you wanna pick a fight with me, Sergal? Are you sure? My boys might have a problem with that."

"Yeah, we might…"From the alley a large, metallic beetle lumbered forward, blue and gleaming in the Digital world's setting sun. Red horns blazed on its hard shell and it swung a powerful set of arms, each equipped at the end with a massively large fists with three white pincers. Its feet made a loud, metallic thud on the cobblestone. A top its tiny head, between its green compound eyes, was a massive horn and just below it was a round white mouth.

**Species: KoKabuterimon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Insect**

**Attribute: Virus**

**Field: Nature Spirits**

Moving silently right behind the large blue bug, a red raptor like Digimon appeared. It was sleekly built with a square head that moved gracefully into a tapering square muzzle. Large, jagged bat wing-like wings flexed on its head. Hard golden eyes glared at them, the dinosaur having to turn its head to the side to stare them down. Emblazoned across its red scales were strips of black and on its chest and stomach it was white. It lashed a long tail, and curled its up lip.

**Species: Guilmon X**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Demon Dragon**

**Attribute: Virus**

**Field: Dragon's Roar, Nature Spirits**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

"This is Bulk-"

Sergal inclined his head toward the massive KoKabuterimon.

"-and Dagger."

He nodded toward the vicious looking Guilmon X. "And I believe we out number you quite a bit."

Karel took a step back, his jaw going slack. Now they were in one helluva pickle. Claire stood, looking one with narrowed eyes and a hard brow. She had some karate lessons growing up, both paid for and from her mother but even she didn't have much confidence in taking down one Child level Digimon with just her fists and feet, let alone three. And there was no way Karel could handle all three of them on his own.

"Shit,"she said under her breath. This drew another laugh out of Sergal. His partners didn't share in it though Dagger's lips twitched slightly, as though in a smirk. It was hard to tell with Bulk though; his facial features were immobile, frozen. Cold.

"Your girlie there has the right idea… You know, we always wanted a tamer of our very own,"he said. "We could take her off your paws, Kitty-""I think not."A flurry of brown suddenly came into Claire's line of vision, hanging in the air proudly. It was some kind of bird in a brown poncho. It was hawk-like with red wings. Black claws glistened on the tips of them. Its head, meanwhile, was primarily white with red markings under its eyes and on its forehead. Attached to a black belt, a single orange feather with a yellow tip fluttered at the back of its head. Hard blue eyes bore into the group of riff raff with years of experience.

**Species: Hawkmon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Bird**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Wind Guardians**

"And what will you do, Birdbrain?"

"Stop you."Suddenly the bird was engulfed in a blazing light. His form began to change beneath the light. He grew taller, and his limbs became spindly coils that were tightly wound. The rest of it looked to be human in shape with a large star-shaped item on its back. As the light exploded, it was revealed to be some kind of creature that looked prepared for the desert, complete with a large brown leaf on each shoulder and a head garb around its face. The star shaped item on its back was a massive shuriken. Each of its hand were also three tipped throwing stars attached at its telephone coil limbs.

**Species: Shurimon**

**Level: Adult or Armor; Adult**

**Type: Mutant**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Jungle Troopers, Wind Guardians**

The trio of child level took a step back, intimidated now by a more powerful Digimon. They glanced around, realizing that the streets had become suddenly empty. Many had heard of the bird; he'd been around for ages, patrolling the area constantly, keeping things at peace. No one would help them now.

Sergal snarled, lip curling. "We can still take you on,"he hissed. "Dagger, Bulk, take on the Shurimon… I'll handle the Kitty."

Battle stats rolled to life on Claire's screen.

**GAZIMON**

**Attack: | | |**

**Defense: | | |**

**Speed: | | |**

**KOKABUTERIMON**

**Attack: | | | |**

**Defense: | | | | |**

**Speed: |**

**GUILMON X**

**Attack: | | | | |**

**Defense: | |**

**Speed: | | | |**

**SHURIMON**

**Attack: | | | |**

**Defense: | | |**

**Speed: | | | | |**

**LIOLLMON**

**Attack: | | | | |**

**Defense: | | |**

**Speed: | |**

The glowing eyes between the gap of the cloth narrowed as the two larger children advanced on him, the Dagger's teeth bared and Bulk's compound green eyes blazing. He bounded out of the way, his legs acting like springs. He sent one of his hands whizzing through the air. "Move!"he called out.

Claire didn't need to be told twice and dashed out of the way, taking refuge in an alley. Meanwhile, Karel had already moved and was now circling the suddenly quadruped Gazimon, maw curled in a snarl. He didn't flinch as the large throwing star landed into the stones, barely missing the massive Bulk and the smaller though equally dangerous Dagger.

Instead, he took this as his chance to attack, dashing toward Sergal. He snarled and back stepped, narrowly avoiding Karel's Leo Claw. He sucked in a deep breath before belching out a noxious yellow cloud. It hit the stunned Karel directly in the face, cause him to hiss and spit loudly in pain. The cloud burned and made his face tingle and it was with mild annoyance that he realized that the Gazimon's Paralyze Breath was taking affect. He wheezed and coughed, fighting the affects.

Taking advantage of his foe's weakness, Sergal pounced, tackling the other quadruped onto his side. The pair scuffled, claws and fangs lashing out, fighting to be on top. Above them, the Shurimon had started his descent, his clothing whipping as he went. His elastic arm reaching into his hood. He dragged out a single solitary card and flicked it toward Claire. He then sent his arm springing toward his missing throwing star, grabbing it up once more.

"Use that!"he called out as he landed. Instantly the other two Digimon advanced on him and he was momentarily caught off guard as Bulk's large horn slid under him and sent him hurtling into the air. His center of gravity was off so he flailed in the air to catch it once more. Too slow.

A fire ball whizzed through the air and slammed into his chest, knocking him out of the sky and onto the ground painfully. He gasped, the wind knocked out of him; this only added to the burning that was already happening on his chest. As he heard the KoKabuterimon's approaching steps, however, he rolled to his feet, barely missing being stepped on by the great blue beetle.

He stepped back and sent his right arm whizzing toward the but Digimon, the limb stretching out on its coil to strike Bulk with the throwing star. The left returned the favor to Dagger, slicing through the air at break neck speeds.

Bulk was hit, the blade cause a long scrap in his arm along his belly. He'd been too slow to block the arm off from the thinner metal on his chest and stomach. Dagger, however, managed to side step it, and charge the Shurimon, mitt burning with fire. The Shurimon bounded into the air and narrowly missed the attack.

In the alley way, Claire caught the card between her two hands, and brought toward her, looking confused. What good would it do her here? You couldn't play games in battle, not at all. Not only that but she couldn't even read it in the darkness. The sun had dropped fairly low on the horizon now and the main light was the moon and a few blinking stars. She cursed their luck and looked back to the on going battle.

She could make out Karel's orange fur in the last dregs of sunlight. He was underneath the Gazimon's paws, one paw holding him down at the shoulder and the other pressing on his neck. His hind paws kicked and scraped uselessly at the Gazimon's side and he wheezed softly, catching no air between his paralyzing face and the pressure on his wind pipe.

She gritted her teeth and decided to take the initiative.

When her fist hit Sergal in a vicious upper cut, he was sent flying off the Liollmon with a cry of pain. He landed hard on the ground further away from the Digimon and partner and laid there, trying to gather his bearings once more. His cheek ached with pain and his world seemed to spin. He stumbled to his feet and curled his lip at Claire, who was just coming out of the punch.

"You bitch,"he snarled. "This wasn't your fight!"

"I made it mine."

She swiped the card in the d-ban instinctually. It felt like she'd been doing it all her life, even, and despite how worn she could tell it felt, the card breezed through her Mark II like a knife through butter. The screen lit up and instantly it uploaded the card into her database.

Then with a quick tap, she activated it. A medical box instantly appeared by Karel, who had rolled over onto his belly, and began to bandage and tend to the wounded and panting cub. It worked quickly and efficiently, even if its bindings came off about five seconds after they were laid. It was excusable considering they came off and left the wound healed for the most part.

As it finished its duty, all the supplies lurched back into the box and it disappeared in a flutter of data, leaving in its wake a healed Liollmon. Sergal skittered back, not having the same luxury of a tamer before turning and retreating.

"Bulk! Dagger! Let's get out of here,"he called out, disappearing into the shadows. The KoKabuterimon and Guilmon X followed quickly, leaving the Adult level Digimon behind. As they left, the Shurimon was engulfed in light and then reverted back to Hawkmon.

The bird approached them on foot, coming before them and bowing to each of them. "Hello,"he said. "I'm Ren."

* * *

Ren had been fairly polite to them and Karel had appreciated his assistance. He had ended up guiding them to the apartments, leading them back the way they came and more toward the center of the Digital City. There, they found three massive buildings that were now full of Digimon but at one time, according to Ren, had been filled with nothing but humans.

"Here is where I must depart from you,"he said as they arrived in the lobby. "There should be a room in this building free on floor five." Claire nodded and watched the bird flutter away, leaving them to their own devices. At her side, Karel was unusually quiet.

They set off up the steps, taking them one at a time. By the time they'd reached the third floor landing, the excitement of the day had caught up to Claire and she felt exhaustion dragging at her bones; it had been such an extremely long day…

She trudged off down the hall toward the back bedroom and passed out without any urging from her partner.

* * *

It was late at night and Karel lay curled on the couch in the living room. He'd already explored the apartment to the fullest, picking over each room carefully. So far he'd found that it had all the basic necessities, such as a bathroom and kitchen. There were also bedrooms.

The nice thing about Digital World apartments was this; no matter how many rooms it had, it always seemed the same size as all the other apartments… from the outside. Extra rooms, such as bathrooms and bedrooms, were added in where needed by some sort of expanding program. Karel knew said program by heart but he'd never seen it at work. It was quite a work of art.

Since their arrival, it had gone from a one bedroom apartment into a two, one for him and one for Claire. It made him smile and feel a little bit better about the days events. The bad days events.

He lowered his head onto his paws and sighed. Today's battle had only been proof that he was not cut out for this sort of thing. Yet they still put him here…

There was the jingle of a bell outside of the door and instantly, Karel knew who it was. He slid from the cozy couch onto the carpet and moved, silent as the night, toward the door. His long tail wrapped securely around the door handle and gave it a pull, opening the door to reveal the Kudamon from earlier.

She entered without being invited, scurrying across the carpet with a quickness not thought possible by one with such short legs. She came the to the middle of the living room and sat up on her hind legs, looking about with misty, nostalgia filled gold eyes.

"The place looks exactly like the day we all left it,"she said softly. There was a scar of some kind on her shoulder, barely visible under the white fur. Despite her small sized, her air commanded respect, almost like she'd seen more in her life time than her body said.

"That's because the apartment reset about five minutes before you left it… it went back to its default form."

He could tell her words were ignored and it didn't bother him. Karel moved back to his spot on the couch as the Kudamon continued to stare, tiny paws curled tight and her shoulders tense. After a moment, she sucked in a shuddering breath and looked toward the Liollmon.

"Zwitter has returned… She gave that boy the message… She didn't get to see C-Cyrus." She sucked in another breath, trying to steady her voice and managing to at least keep the crack from it. "He should arrive soon… His partner is taking longer to prepare than expected…"

Karel smiled at that. "Yeah, I can imagine… Enid will take time, and not necessarily on prepping; just on talking."

His words caused her to snort and a little smile coming to her features. She suddenly turned and faced him, getting right to business. "Right, anyway,"she said with a nod. "How is the girl?"

"Asleep. She was exhausted after a battle in the outer rim of the city… I got turned around."

The Kudamon nodded slowly. Karel asked the next question.

"Where is Athanas? I thought he would have been here by now…"

The Kudamon sighed and brought a little paw up to rub her face. "Seph, I'm afraid, didn't even get close to the Digital City… they ended up in the southern mountains. It took them a while to pick their way out of them and even onto more solid ground. You know how treacherous the mountains can be, particularly with a human…""Aye… the last remnants of hard core Insomnia supporters and believers are centered around in that area… Where are they abouts now?"

"Ermolai's village; they just left it today after a run in with a group of Extremum's lackeys… Athanas was injured moderately but could continue."

Karel nodded slowly. "So we were the first ones here.""Yes… keep a watch out though… we have reason to believe that a fourth child has been tossed into the mix and he or she will not be on our side…"

Karel's black lips thinned. "I see…"He turned his head away and stared at the wall, eyes distant. "Do you ever see him? Rufus I mean?"The Kudamon blinked, seeming to come out of a daze herself. "Hm? Oh… yeah, I do… He's doing well… still has nightmares and misses C-Cyrus…"

Her eyes softened. "We all have nightmares but he was the one that found Cyrus… the one most affected by… by Cyrus's choice… And then he always had problems with his evolution…"

Karel nodded slowly. "What was Cyrus thinking anyway? Joining her like that,"the Liollmon said, voice growing accusatory and hard. He frowned.

"Don't you dare criticize him,"growled the Kudamon. "Don't you damn well dare, you brat. He was _never_ a bad kid. Never. She sweet talked him, tricked him into believing she could fix everything that happened instantly. You didn't ever _meet_ her. You don't know what the hell she was _**like**_."

Her white fur stood on end and her eyes blazed. The little face was curled into a scowling snarl of trepidation. Her words hung, full of rage and hatred for anyone that dare attack her tamer's integrity. Karel just stared at the wall. And then…

"Is that why you wouldn't take this spot instead of me, Hang?"

The question broke up the angry words and the gap created turned into a heavy silence. Hang's posture smoothed, though her eyes stayed hard. Finally, after a long spans, she said,"Yes… I could never be anyone else's partner _but_ Cyrus's… he was my tamer and no one else could ever measure up."

Hang left not long after that, leaving Karel pensive. He was much younger than the Kudamon and had been born on the tail end of restoration after Insomnia's reign. By then, all the humans had been sent home, never to be seen again, leaving many partner Digimon in a state of utter depression. He glanced down the hallway.

Would he ever be that close to Claire? So close that the day she left, he, too, would become a bitter old Digimon telling stories and protecting her from other people's criticism?

He frowned. He just couldn't see it…

He slid from the couch, feeling exhaustion wear on him, and moved down the hall to the newly grown bedroom across from Claire's. Clambering into the large kitty cube against the wall, he matted down the grass for three turns before laying down and quickly delving into slumber.

* * *

So another chapter down. This one was kinda… ew. But the chapters will get better and things will pick up. I think I'm about half way through chapter ten but its becoming insanely long.

**Karel, Claire, Hang © Me**

**Ren © Fangren**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

They had left Ermolai and his village behind them now with Athanas's minor injuries bandaged and Kaoru waving a tearful goodbyes to the village; the latter was accompanied by eye rolls from Athanas and muttered, "You just met them!"'s. Where they were was a mystery to Kaoru, who, truthfully, wasn't looking forward to another night spent under the stars and in the open. Perhaps they would get lucky and make it to a hotel…

… Yeah. A nice jungle themed hotel with lots of air conditioning and nice dry rooms… and a shower.

She sighed and shook the thoughts from her head. Like that would ever happen.

Around them they were surrounded by trees; the area was well shaded. Unfortunately, the area was unbearably humid and hot. The further in they traveled, the worse it got and now it seemed to have reached its peak. The area itself was a tropical jungle by the looks of it; it was thick and lush with trees and flowers. Flowers, by which, were moving. A series of pink and purple flowers squirmed and giggled around them, and Kaoru felt wonderment as whispers were passed around.

"_Ohhh… The Gabu is so cuuuute~"_

"_The girl has such pretty petals! Too bad she looks so wilted…"_

"_Are they going to the city? Shouldn't mama help them?"_

Kaoru stopped and stared, mismatched eyes wide. "Uni!" she squealed slightly. "The plants are talking about us!" The flora erupted into laughter and coos of how adorable the pair were. Kaoru felt her cheeks heat and she moved closer to Athanas, who had also paused to look around. Athanas felt Kaoru lower her head to one of his covered up ears and whisper,"I don't like to be laughed at…"

Suddenly a sharp, stern voice broke out over the giggles.

"Girls! Behave yourselves!"

And suddenly the flowers flurried away and Kaoru realized, with some shock, that they all had faces and that there were several different kinds. There were two main ones that looked humanoid enough if you ignored the large tropical flower budding from their round green heads like hair and their root-like feet. They had almond shaped black eyes that glittered and a crooked, wiggly mouth. Large, leaf-like arms came to vine like fingers, each either purple or pink tipped. Likewise, the Digimon either had a pink or purple flower.

**Species: Palmon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Plant**

**Attribute: Data, Vaccine**

**Field: Jungle Troopers, Nature Spirits, Wind Guardians**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

**Species: Alraumon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Plant**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Nature Spirits**

**Press here to see Subspecies and Variations.**

There were two other variants wandering the girlish crowd though. One was tall and with a red petal helmet over its yellow head. Each had a cat-like mouth that curled little smiles or grins toward them. Their heads were collared with red and pink petals and their hands were purple and white flowers, each with a yellow stem curling out of the center. Much like the Alraumon and Palmon, its feet were root like and it also had a short, spiked tail. Blue eyes watched them as they fluttered by, all of these flowery girls skittering behind Athanas.

**Species: Floramon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Plant**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Jungle Troopers, Wind Guardians**

The last variant actually flew, soaring in little flocks of pink and green with yellow leaf like helicopters whirring. Their faces were stuck in a seemingly permanent expression of surprise, their eyes perfectly round and black with an oval shaped mouth below them. Their head was an upside down pink flower that curled around stumpy arms. Their bodies sloped down into even stumpier legs. Kaoru could only guess that this was why they flew instead of walked; they wouldn't get anywhere fast on those legs.

**Species: Lalamon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Plant**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Jungle Troopers**

Just as they settled behind Kaoru, another, singular flower stepped from the brush, shaped very much like the Alraumon and Palmon. However, Kaoru wasn't quite sure which one she was. Her petals were pastel blue and tipped with green instead of the usual pink or purple and she walked with a straight back and a stern, motherly look.

"Shame on you all," she scolded sharply. "You probably scared our guests! Apologize now, young ladies."

Eerily, every flowered head lowered in shame and there was a chorus of,"Sorry" around them. Kaoru looked around her and couldn't help a little smile quirk her lips. She giggled softly at them and reached out lightly to pet one of the fluttering Lalamon.

"Its okay, Madam Fleur," she said, a sweet smile coming to her lips. The blue flower smiled and nodded, coming forward to take the girls hand and pat it lightly.

"You're a sweetie but they know better," she said, her voice taking on a motherly tone. "I raised them better. Anyway, what's your name, dear? I'm Bow and these are my daughters! Say hello, girls."

Much like before there was a boisterous cry of hello from the many plants gathered only this time they converged on Kaoru and Athanas, making a circle around them. They chatted and laughed and asked questions but not one stuck out; they all sort of melded together into some kind of harmony that was mesmerizing but dizzying at the same time. Luckily, Bow seemed on it and held up her hands, giving each in turn a sharp look.

"Settle down, ladies, settle!" she called out over them and quickly the flowers quieted themselves. She smiled at them, not unkindly before turning to Kaoru and Athanas.

"What are your names?"

All eyes, almond-shaped, half circles, round, black, blue, swiveled onto Kaoru and she felt her cheeks heat at the sudden attention. "I… I, um… I'm Kaoru Yumi," she said in a soft, meek voice. Beside her, Athanas shifted and watched the crowd with wary red eyes.

His voice was stronger than hers and carried around the trees. "I'm Athanas," he said with a small bow. The flowers burst into flustered giggles, whispering about how handsome Athanas was and how chivalrous it was of him to bow to them. The only one unimpressed was Bow but she was hardly far from annoyed or angry. Instead she just smiled and rolled her eyes at her daughters' oddball antics.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you both," Bow said, pleased before coming forward and taking Kaoru's skirt in her vine like fingers. "Oh dear, such a pretty skirt but its become so dingy… such a pretty young lady as yourself should be immaculate at all times… when was the last time you two stopped to bathe?"

Again, Kaoru felt her cheeks heat. Their bathing times had been short and limited to streams and small ponds and even then, she traveled further down the water way to preserve her womanly virtue. Different species or not, Athanas was still very much male. At least she thought he was…

"Well, this won't do."

She was brought out of her musings about Athanas's gender by Bow's voice and watched her stomp one of her rooted feet. "You two are going to come with me," she said with a nod. "Me and my girls will give you two a good scrubbing, clean your clothes and your pelts, and let you be on your way first thing tomorrow morning. Where are you heading anyway? I haven't seen humans in so long…"

She trailed off, her eyes gazing into a far of place. Athanas watched her quietly, and Kaoru thought she saw an odd expression of dawning realization on his face. She blinked however, and it disappeared, staying neutral. She looked back toward Bow in time to see her blink suddenly misty eyes.

The flower sucked in a shuddery breath and she brought a hand up to rub her eyes idly. "Sorry, Kaoru-chan," she said soothingly, her voice thick. "I spaced out and got something in my eye. You're heading to the city, yes?"

Kaoru felt awkward and felt she had stumbled onto a sensitive subject for the plant without really knowing how she ended up there. She rubbed her hands together idly. "Um.. Yes, ma'am," she said softly and then…

"How did you know?"

Bow blinked and rubbed her face. Despite her attempts to appear strong, she couldn't hide the sniff. "Um.. Oh… well, Kaoru-chan," she said softly. "Every tamer I ever met wanted to go to the city… I've been around for quite a while, dear." She smiled and laughed, the sound only slightly hollow.

"I know I look young, sweetheart, but I was here during Insomnia's reign. Anyway, let's go. My home is back this way. Come along girls. Help me lead our guests. And don't drown them in questions!"

* * *

Bow's home was a massive house built into the side of an even more humongous tree. Honestly, Kaoru had never seen a bigger tree before. It was wider than some sky scrapers and just as tall. She gaped being nudged along by the many flowery Digimon, up one of the roots that lead into a sort of ramp like walk way. It twisted around the massive trunk and came to a door which Bow opened.

Bow's home was simplistic for the most part, opening up into a large living space that closely resembled earth ones. The only major difference was, however, that all the furniture that was normally associated with dens was replaced by large pots of varying shapes and sizes. Kaoru was left wondering where to sit that wouldn't mess up her already dirty skirt.

Nudging past her, all of Bow's daughter's filed in, splitting into different directions. They disappeared down or up hallways and corridors, leaving just Bow, Athanas, and Kaoru standing in the door. The plant Digimon sighed before placing a hand on Kaoru's back.

"Com'on, dear," she said soothingly. "We'll run you a nice warm bath and get you cleaned up…"

Bow had led the pair down a series of complicated and ropey halls that had Kaoru completely dizzy by the time they finally stopped at a room. There had been a surprising amount of windows in and even though they'd spent most of the time going down in the massive tree, there was still one positioned across the hall from the door.

From it, Kaoru could see that the sun was already dipping low on the horizon. No surprise considering they'd finally manage to leave Ermolai behind about noon-ish. Her attention was brought back to the now as Bow shooed Athanas down the hall. His face was a mixture of disgruntlement and surprise; it made Kaoru laugh.

Once the BlackGabumon was out of sight in another room, Bow returned to Kaoru's side, smiling at her kindly. "Alright, Kaoru-chan," she said opening the door. "Inside now. One of my girls has already run the bath water." As the door came open a great gust of sweet smelling steam hit the girl and without really thinking about it, her shoulder muscles relaxing.

She moved into the foggy room and came to stand on the edge of a large pool with thick bubbles broiling on the surface. Bottles of all shapes and sizes were lined up on the ledge of said pool and at the back wall was a large faucet with two handles. Kaoru couldn't see the water but she knew it had to be warm; she was eager to get in.

"Undress, Kaoru-chan,"Bow said,"and I'll take your clothes and get them washed, ne?"

"O-okay…"

With in seconds she had stripped away her clothing but hesitated to move into the soothing water. She'd always bee uncertain about getting into water with her Mark II and even gone as far to keep that arm it was on out of the water. What would she do if it was messed up?

Bow seemed to sense her hesitation and giggled as she was gathering up the pink garments. "Don't worry, chick,"she said happily. "It's waterproof."

And, with Kaoru feeling thoroughly embarrassed, she left the girl to her own devices. The young child quickly slid into the soothing bath waters and bubbles and sighed happily, sinking up to her chin in the water. She squeed softly, happy at finally, finally having a warm bath…

She took a deep breath and, again, squeed.

A warm bath with bath oils already added~

She closed her eyes and relaxed completely, allowing herself to fully submerge under the mass of bubbles. She floated weightlessly before pushing up through the suds to grab a gulp of air. Her auburn hair hung lankly around her face, having been taking down from its massive curly pigtails for the bath.

The Japanese girl pushed the wet strands from her face and waded over to the bottles, examining their labels until she found one that looked even vaguely shampoo-ish.

She selected it, and squirted a generous helping of lavender gel into her palm. Massaging it into her hair she hummed under her breath, realizing how odd it was that, seconded to Claire and her family, baths were the things she missed most about home… followed quickly by her own bed and, again, Claire and her family.

She dived under the water to rinse the thick lather from her scalp. '_I wonder how mere and okaa-san are doing… I hope they aren't too worried…_'

It wasn't until the water had gone luke-warm and Kaoru herself had turned into a prune that she finally left the pool, wrapping a thick, pink, and very fluffy towel around herself as she went. She opened the bathing room door and poked her head out.

"Bow-san?"she called out. "I finished bathing… I need my clothes…"

No response.

She tightened the towel tighter around her and adventured out into the hall cautiously. She tried to remember the different corridors and tunnels that she and the plant Digimon had taken to get to this point and realized, with a sinking feeling, she couldn't. Where the hell was she in this damn tree?

"Bow-san?"

"Kaoru? Is that you?"

Kaoru spun, already feeling her cheeks heat. She recognized Athanas's voice anywhere and as she turned she found he was very pink as well under that fur. "Uni!" she squeaked. "Go away!"

It wasn't a scream; more of a squeal that caused Athanas to stumble, nearly running into the corner in his haste. "Sorry!" he yelped, utterly flustered; it wasn't usually on his agenda to run into young humans in such a state of undress. They were… definitely built different from Digimon women.

The clamor of noise had a blue flowered head poking out a door down the hall. "Oh!" said Bow's voice and Kaoru spun towards it. She rushed toward the Digimon hurriedly, dashing into the Bow was occupying. Bow smiled a little bit before looking down the hall at Athanas, who had his face in his paws. She giggled before closing the door.

* * *

Bow had helped calm Kaoru down and the dried her off. She'd then passed her a baggy t-shirt and a pair of stretchy PJ pants. The shirt fit fine but the pants came out more as a capris. The waist was luckily stretchy.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru-chan… The young lady that wore these was very small."

Once Kaoru was settled in she was ushered into a bedroom with, oh my god, a bed! As soon as the Asian mixed girl saw it, she sprung upon it, feeling the mattress spring and give way under her. She flopped, belly first, and nearly cried at how comfortable it was.

All the way, she was constantly thanking Bow, not knowing how she could ever repay her. The plant Digimon simply smiled, distantly, her black almond eyes seeming exceptionally watery.

Athanas and her had a moment of awkward silence where it was communicated between them that they'd never speak of the incident from earlier. They both settled into the beds, Bow tucking in Kaoru as she shimmied under the blankets. Kaoru yawned and looked toward Bow, reaching out idly to stroke one of her petals between her fingers.

Bow stilled, becoming statuesque as Kaoru did, looking toward the blankets. Then she spoke softly.

"I'm an Alraumon," she said, finally unraveling the mystery of her species. Kaoru nodded slowly and allowed her hand to drop down to the bed. Bow kept talking though.

"I used to work at the Primary Village… and then I became my tamer's partner… she was such a little girl. All she wanted was her mama… I was her mom. And she left…"

A fat tear rolled down the green face and Kaoru couldn't stop herself from swiping it away. She felt her heart go out to Bow who must miss her tamer, her first daughter so much.

"I wish I could do something…"she said softly.

Bow snuffled and nodded. "You might, my dear," she said softly. "Could… Could I use your Mark II?"

Kaoru blinked before nodding, holding the device out to her.

She then took Kaoru's hand and held it like it was glass; her grip was lose and gentle taking care not to harm her with the sharp tips of her vines. How long had it taken her to be that careful with her tamer? Or had she originally been?

The vines glided over the Mark II's large screen, tapping at things on the screen. Kaoru could see, from the corner of her eye, that the plant was actually on some kind of browser. That was a jolt to the system; if there was internet, she might be able to talk to Claire or her moms…

Suddenly a soft sob broke her thoughts and she caught Bow with her leafy hand over her mouth, more tears welling in her eyes. "Oh my…"she said softly. "She got so big…"

Kaoru sat up and leaned over, looking at the screen. On it was a picture of a smiling woman, pale as milk, with soft looking purple hair. She was leaned heavily on a taller man with dark hair and her blue eyes sparkled with happiness.

"She's beautiful," Kaoru commented with a smile and she was. The woman was gorgeous, with eyes that were right on the edge of Asian and flawless pale skin.

Bow nodded wordlessly, tears continuing to fall down her face. "Yes… she is… My little Hikari was always beautiful…"

Through out the exchange, Athanas had remained motionless and silent. He'd been born in the middle of the final battle with Her Sleeplessness; by the time he was old enough to be soldier material, she was gone. He'd never had a tamer before Kaoru; Kaoru was his first.

… If they failed, would she disappear never to be seen again as well? Just… thought of as happy but tear inducing memories?

* * *

It was the next morning.

Kaoru carefully adjusted her now clean coat. In front of her a large bird shifted from foot to foot, massive red wings folded against its side. To the bird's credit most of it was red with the exception of its head and the majority of it secondary wing feathers, all of which were white. On its head, arched forward and curved around there was a pair of sharp looking horns. It watched Kaoru quietly with soft blue eyes and waited for her patiently for her to climb aboard.

**Species: Aquilamon**

**Level: Adult**

**Type: Giant Bird**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: Wind Guardians**

"You don't have to give us a ride, Ms. Bow," Athanas said, standing just to the right of her on the opposite side from Kaoru.

The great avian smiled, or one was left to assume that was a smile on her orange beak. "I know I don't but I want to," she said soothingly. "So hurry up. On board, everyone." Kaoru smiled and clambered on, grasping her horns. Behind her, Athanas got on as well. There was a flash of light and a cute fuzz ball hopped into her lap. It was mostly orange fur with a cream face and wide red eyes. A large but rather dull and flat black horn grew out of its head.

**Species: Tsunomon**

**Level: Baby II**

**Type: Lesser**

**Attribute: Data**

**Field: None**

"Uni?"she said before stroking his soft orange fur. He purred and wiggled, cheeks pink little spots. She giggled before taking hold of Bow's horns again. The now Aquilamon smiled and spread her wings.

At the door, all of her flora daughters waved and cried and wished them all a safe trip, even as Bow took flight into the air.

* * *

A/N: A little bleh but its out there. ^^ Next chapter will be up soon, just watch this story  
**Bow, Kaoru (C) Vn70072**

**Athanas (C) Otterly Lost (Me)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

True to her word, Zwitter was gone the next morning, leaving young Caleb on his own again. He awoke at dawn and lay awake for hours on the musty cot, staring up at the sagging ceiling. His mind was working furiously, going over the best events, categorizing, re-examining them, and having several epiphanies. Like, for instance, yesterday he really did run away from home…

_No more of mom's cooking…_

His lips twitched at the thought of that being the first, trivial thing he'd miss. The lip twitch turned into a little smile and a hand came up to rub his face, trying to chase the last remnants of slumber away. That hand slowly arched away from his face along with its brethren to turn into a stretch before he finally rolled out of bed.

His brown hair was already a spiky, untamable mess thanks to his dad but now it was worse. Going to bed with wet hair never did anything to chase away permanent bed head. Slowly his fingers flicked through the strands, pushing it away from his face before he shuffled toward the kitchen. Time to make use of that last meal before setting out on his way.

* * *

The food left behind had turned out to be little more than cold eggs and bacon, possibly cooked that morning by his would be helper. He ate it all, feeling surprisingly starved despite last night's food. Growing boy and all that, he supposed.

Finishing off his meal he got dressed and took one last cursory glance around the abandoned apartment. He could clearly remember Zwitter sitting there on the couch, simply talking to him. Asking him strange questions…

At one point in the evening, she'd even asked how his Uncle Cyrus was doing.

Caleb rolled his shoulders before grabbing up his stuff and heading out the door. He didn't bother to close the door behind him; what was the point? The building itself was abandoned and he was sure there wasn't anything worth taking.

The floor creaked under his feet and the thread bare carpet did little to muffle his footfalls. He moved past water stained walls and pealing wallpaper, idly picking at each as he went. Down the stairs and through the decrepit lobby doors he went. Outside, he took a deep breath, closing his green eyes against the blaze of the sun above.

It had very nearly blinded him and he couldn't believe that he'd stepped out onto the same street he'd been on last night. The buildings that had loomed over head like monsters were now brightly lit and gleaming. He was on the edge of the rough downtown and the industrial downtown, he realized. Which made his next plan surprisingly easier to accomplish.

He turned and started to walk down the sidewalk. He was leaving this town behind and he was going to get to the next one. If he knew anything about the police, it was that they were probably going to start small, searching around the neighborhood and his school. Probably go to a few of his favorite haunts. Then they would spread out, searching the entire city. He needed to be gone before they did that.

The next town wasn't technically a new town; just a break off of the large city, kind of like a township. All the urban areas around here were more or less break offs of larger cities. It was like a spider web of roads with great dew drops of cities at different intervals.

If he remembered his geography right, he could just follow this road to the highway and the highway to the next city. There he could find a place to stay until the police broadened their search to outside the city. Then he'd probably have to hitch a ride somewhere else…

_I'll have to find a job eventually. This money won't last long…_

He sucked in a deep breath and cast a glance around the surrounding city. A few of the buildings were familiar, even here in this part of town. Sixteen years was not a long time for a human life; for a city, however, it was comparative to more like thirty years. The thing about cities was that they were changing constantly, growing, expanding, adding in…

… and Caleb realized he wouldn't be around this town much longer to see any more of its renovations. His lips twisted into a frown and he chased away the sudden home sickness; he hadn't even _left_ home yet.

* * *

"Iko! Ugh! I hate traffic!"

A pale young woman leaned back in her seat, her foot on the brake while the cars in front of her, yet again, stalled. She'd been trying to get back home from her teacher's workshop for the last _hour_ but apparently a pile up had stalled things a bit. Her hands still rested on the steering wheel and she couldn't help but impatiently tap her forefinger on it.

The young woman was definitely of Asian descent, if her eyes and the shape of her face were anything to go by but a large amount of European or various western ethnicities had drowned it a bit. She sucked in a sharp breath and flipped a long, lavender lock over her petite shoulders while her blue eyes idly scanned the surrounding road for any type of break out. She growled as she saw none.

"Mo ii-yo!"

She slapped the steering wheel and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the top of it. The woman sat there, staring down. Her eyes locked on a picture of a dark haired man with a sailor's cap on. He stared back at her with a small smile and warm brown eyes and, despite her agitation with the traffic conditions, she couldn't help but smile back at him. A hand drifted down from the top of the steering wheel before coming to rest in the center, on the picture. A delicate, pale finger stroked the pale features of the man before drawing away.

She sucked in a breath and sat up in time to see a boy weaving in and out of the stalled traffic. He looked young, no older than his teen years, and he had an awful lot of bags on him. She frowned and continued to hold her break as she shifted into park. She grasped her car door handle and pushed it open, stepping out onto the asphalt.

Her black boots clacked across the road as she moved between the cars. Her instincts told her this boy wasn't meant to be here; he was meant to be at home eating breakfast with family. She huffed and wrapped her coat tighter around her. She vaguely remembered a story on the news about missing children. One of them had been a boy but he had been presumed to have run away.

_Perhaps he's that boy…_

"Hey!"

She hurried passed the last cars and grabbed his arm. He turned a nasty glare on her, clearly irritated. She was unfazed, however, and simply frowned back at him. "What are you doing?"she said in her best sharp teacher voice. "Com'on."

She began to pull him through the cars back to her own parked car. "What would you have done if they started moving suddenly?"she asked, glancing back at him. "Where are your parents anyway?"

"It's none of your business," growled the boy but she ignored him. He was one of _those_ types; the ones that caused trouble just for the attention. Well, he'd be damned if he got it from her. Instead she opened her passenger side door and nodded her head.

He stood there, staring blankly, and the woman rolled her eyes. "Get in the car," she said, her voice exasperated. She leaned forward and pushed him into the passenger seat. Quickly she shuffled around to the other side of the car and slid into the driver's seat. She was just in time to shift the gear back into drive as traffic crept forward.

"Ohh, thank goodness," she said pleasantly, a smile creeping up onto her face. "Traffic has been sitting here for hours… I'm Hikari by the way; what's your name?" Her soft blue eyes drifted to the boy's startlingly green ones.

The boy narrowed his own eyes toward the thirty something year old woman and answered tersely, "Caleb…" He shifted and gripped his bag tightly, looking out the window, missing how Hikari's smile transformed into a frown.

"You know, I'm giving you a ride," she said, mildly put out. "The least you could do was be a little polite about this whole ordeal. Where you heading, anyway?"

"Just to the next town. I didn't need a ride anyway!"

He flashed her an irritated look but it was mostly to mask the feeling of worry niggling in his gut. If she got really suspicious, she might call the cops and he'd be back at home with his mom and step dad again. He really didn't want that…

"If you don't need a ride, feel free to open the door and jump out," Hikari groused back. "I'm going seventy miles an hour though and I'm not slowing down 'til I get into the next town that you're so lucky to find I'm heading to."

Caleb's lip curled and his eyes hardened even more. He didn't grace her with a response though and simply twisted away from her, pointedly ignoring her. Hikari smirked and continued to drive, pleased at having won.

* * *

They were thirty minutes from town when Hikari decided to break the silence. The pair had fallen eerily silent for the majority of the ride, Caleb mostly given her the cold shoulder and Hikari unconcerned how he felt about her. She was a teacher and had been for a good fifteen; if she stopped to care about what every punk thought of her, she'd be a basket case by now. Instead, she let him mope. That would eat him up inside more than her making a big deal out of it.

But it had come time to sort out a few things, preferably before they got into the hustle and bustle of town.

"Where are you going to go?" she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her blue eyes. She saw him shrug slightly and her bottom lip scrunched up into a thoughtful grimace. There were ideas in her head but she wasn't sure what good they were. The main one was offering to let Caleb stay with her.

The corner of her mouth twisted to one side and her eyes fell to half mast. The idea was far from appetizing. The kid was definitely a brat. And a brat was just child that would do anything to get any attention. However, if he did stay with her, she could attempt to get some kind of information about his parents out of him and, consequently, get this child back at home where he belonged.

_Not only that,_ she thought a little selfishly,_ but his company would be a welcome relief… Ethan is gone so much it would be nice to just have someone to talk to._

She hated herself but she asked all the same.

"Why don't you stay with me?"

Silence rang in the path cut by her words and she glanced over after a few seconds to see what Caleb's reaction was. He, however, hadn't even looked toward her, eyes still gazing outside. She could see from here that his lips were thinned and the metaphorical cogs in that head of his were turning, picking at the pros and cons. Then they ground to a halt as he came to his decision, nodding.

"Okay… but only for a short time."

* * *

Hikari's home was simple and placed in a quiet suburb that seemed to be mostly inhabited by elderly couples or newly weds. Seeing a fellow kid or teenager was a rare treat, Caleb was noticing. Most of the houses he passed by were yards full of blooming, multicolored pansies and tulips and wooden panels of pale yellow or off white. The whole neighborhood could be called quaint.

The pair walked up the wooden steps of a large front porch, with Hikari leading the way. She pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the front door with ease. Shoving it open, she allowed Caleb to enter. "Make yourself at home," she said happily. "Ethan, my husband is away on work right now so it'll be just you and me."

She pulled off her coat and hung it on the rack before turning to take Caleb's and do the same. The boy's backpack was on the floor by the door along with his laptop case. Hikari nodded to them and then pointed toward a hall absently. "The spare bedroom is that way on the left,"she said. "Please take your things in there."

Feeling more cooperative than he had on the road, Caleb obliged and grabbed the bags up. He shuffled down the hall, leaving Hikari to do whatever she'd planned to do. Being in a new place had him feeling awkward and out of place. It wasn't as if the place was bad… it just wasn't home.

For example, the hallway he passed through wasn't littered with framed family photos. There weren't pictures of a little boy missing his two front teeth or a smiling mom and her new baby girl. There were no photos of a family during happier times and no pictures of a new man.

Instead, Hikari's wall had pictures of her in college, her bangs blue and her face flushed as a man with warm, honey brown eyes held her close and kissed her cheek. Pictures of students she'd taught over the years and had seen grow into successful adults. Pictures of the same warm, honey brown eyed man in a naval uniform and hat, saluting the camera. Even pictures of nieces and nephews from beloved brothers.

There were none of Hikari with kids of her own which left Caleb to ponder if she simply never wanted any of her own or never had time to… or if things were wrong somewhere in what appeared to be a perfect little life.

Caleb pulled his thoughts away from such depressing things and instead moved toward the room Hikari had mentioned. It was the only one on the left so her vague instructions made sense. Inside, was a simple guest bedroom, completely with the gaudy, flowery comfort set that all house wives seemed to save specifically for the guest rooms. The walls were painted a creamy color with white base boards and off gray carpet. Against the wall was a queen sized bed and opposite from it was a generic dresser.

A vanity took up much of the last wall, leading Caleb to believe that generally it was women who were Hikari's primary guests. Taking up a lot of the area above the vanity, a large mirror reflected back at Caleb. He could see himself in it and he paused to look himself over.

A lot had happened in just the spans of two days… but he didn't look any different. He was still a pale kid with spiky, messy brown hair and green eyes that were painfully similar to his father's. In the last day, he'd run away from home, stayed in a foreign part of town, met a strange person, and made it clear to the next town with the help of a complete stranger…

… and also been told that Claire and Kaoru's disappearances had been linked.

_What was so special about them?_

He chased the wayward thoughts away and moved toward the living room. It was already getting close to lunch and he could hear Hikari moving about in the kitchen and moved to check in on what she was doing. On her counter tops, she had already pulled out plates and there were slices of bread on them.

"What kind of jelly do you like on your PB&J's, Caleb?" she asked warmly, sliding a jar of peanut butter onto the counter and moving to the fridge.

"Uh... Strawberry."

"Oh~ That's my favorite too!"

Hikari sent him a wide grin and grabbed the jar of strawberry. "My husband prefers grape," she said. "But we keep a wide variety for the sake of change." She pulled out four slices of bread and spread them out on the bare counter. Two got a healthy smearing of peanut butter while their siblings got a treatment of strawberry jelly.

Hikari licked the back of the spoon she'd used for the jelly before dropping into into the sink. She passed him one of them and slid the other over to her, taking a healthy bite out of it. The duo ate in peaceable silence until they were each about half way through their sandwiches.

That was when the woman swallowed her bite and eyed Caleb with quiet interest. She placed the sandwich down on the counter and hummed. "So…" she finally said. "Why did you run away?"

Caleb tensed and his mouth thinned to a hard line. He turned his eyes on Hikari and thought back to the pictures of nieces and nephews but the lonely, childless pictures of Hikari and her husband. The bitter words were tumbling from Caleb's mouth before he could stop them, tasting like bile and bringing a whole knew meaning to the phrase diarrhea of the mouth. "Why don't you tell me why you don't have any kids of your own?" he spat and quickly wished he could take them back; he'd seen the hurt that his words caused flash through Hikari's eyes. The flavor of peanut butter and warm strawberry jelly suddenly had the flavor of wet ash.

An apology was on the tip of his tongue but Hikari interrupted him. "We tried to have kids," she said softly placing her sandwich down. Idly her finger flicked at a bit of crumbs left on the counter.

"We tried for several years after we'd got set up… they just… wouldn't come… I wanted kids… Ethan wanted kids… but I couldn't conceive…"

She shrugged a little. "I've contented myself with teaching now and keeping my nieces and nephews whenever possible," she said. Then her pale, blue eyed gaze zeroed in on Caleb. "And bringing in strays every now and again."

Her final words were sharp and they ended conversation for the rest of the meal. The two of them finished their sandwiches and went their separate ways, Hikari moving around the kitchen and cleaning up the nonexistent mess and Caleb looking over his already thoroughly examined room.

* * *

Despite the lunch incident, Hikari's company had been… nice to say the least. She was funny and warm and Caleb liked to be around her. Plus, she wasn't a bad cook. Almost better than his mom's.

_And to think you were worrying about __**mom's**__ cooking,_ he thought to himself later that night as they were settling down on the comfortable couch in the living room after dinner. After lunch earlier that day, things had progressed rather easily, starting with Hikari going around her house and watering the many potted plants around her house.

She seemed to take particular care with one that was purple and blue with thick green leaves and a lively look about it. The species of it was one that Caleb didn't recognize but Hikari fondly told him it was a Bow flower. He didn't think of it much and instead let her work while flipping idly through the TV channels. Pointedly, he avoided the news channels; while he was sure Hikari knew he was a run away, he didn't want her to know people were still looking for him.

After that, Hikari had coaxed Caleb into playing a few board games with her. She didn't have any of the new systems for them to play on and her older Wii system's games were mainly consisted of exercise and dance games. Hardly Caleb's style. The board game was fun though and Caleb found himself laughing more than he ever had.

Now, after a delectable dinner of hearty stew and warm bread, they were again on the couch watching TV in a comfortable, tired silence. Caleb found it odd how, in one day, he felt closer to Hikari than he'd ever felt to anyone in his family…

… well, at one time he felt this close to both his parents but… circumstances had distanced them. His lips thinned at the thoughts and he quickly derailed them, refusing to ruin this warm happiness he'd fallen into. He leaned against the arm rest and felt his eyes get heavy.

He felt a pop on his PJ clad thigh and he jerked up, looking toward Hikari's smiling face. "Get to bed soon, kiddo,"she said, before standing up and stretching. "I'm heading to bed though. 'Night." She passed him the remote and ruffled his hair before disappearing down the hall. Caleb watched her go before turning back to the TV screen.

His eye lids drooped, even as he changed the channel to Adult Swim. He sat in a dazed silence, watching the flicker of stoner cartoons before they were reduced to light past his eye lids. Quickly he was dozing off, sleeping through the way the TV screen suddenly turned to snow and the remote hanging so loosely from his hand had started to move…

* * *

Bow had been a wonderful mode of transportation even if Kaoru missed her usually chipper conversation; the whipping of air past her ears had pretty much drowned out anything the Aquilamon had to say, much to her chagrin. Her flying was superbly smooth, however, and her landing was just as good. She had brought them to land in front of tall building in the midst of an even larger city. All around Kaoru there was the bustle of Digimon denizens going about their daily lives in unadulterated bliss and ignorance. The building themselves stretched high into the mother board-like sky. In some ways, it made Kaoru homesick.

In her arms, Athanas squirmed before jumping down. A white light enveloped the Tsunomon and before her he became the Uni she once knew. He stretched and groaned before inclining a head toward Bow.

"Thank you," he said easily. "We appreciate the ride greatly; it definitely put us here on time."

Kaoru smiled and bowed, voicing her agreement and own thanks with an exuberant,"Hai! Arigatou! Merci beaucoup!"

Bow smiled, or came as close as possible with her orange beak, and returned Kaoru's bow with her wings spread wide. "You're both very welcome," she said graciously. "I wish I could stay and chat longer but my girls enjoy causing too much trouble for me to stay behind. Goodbye for now you two." Again, she flashed them another smile before giving her large wings a good hard flap. She soared into the air and quickly became a speck against the endless sky.

From the ground, Kaoru waved to her until she was sure Bow could see her no more. Then he attention shifted to Uni. "Are we going to inside?" she asked curiously, looking toward the building. The Black Gabumon inclined his head in assent before leading the way toward the large building.

* * *

"Uni~ Carry me! You didn't say there'd be stairs!"

Claire looked up from her Mark II. She had taken up a seat on the couch in the living room for the day, waiting until Karel rose from his slumber. What she hadn't expected was to hear a painfully familiar voiced just outside. Her heart jumped into her throat and she felt a dizziness hit her like a freight train.

"We're already here, you can walk the rest of the way."

Claire stumbled to her feet, nearly tripping over the coffee table in her haste. Her heart was vibrating somewhere between her stomach and her throat. It didn't stop the breathless, "Kaoru!" as she threw open her apartment door.

And there, standing in all her perfect, pink beauty, stood Kaoru. She felt light headed and dizzy as her eyes darted over that tanned face, those gorgeous mismatched eyes and that perfectly soft, curly auburn hair. Claire's eyes felt wet even as she lurched forward and dragged the girl, this wonderful girl, into a hug. She held her tightly and breathed in a smell she recognized only as Kaoru. The only thing missing was her usual sprinkle of Zephyr but even that didn't dash the bone crunching realization that this was _her_ Kaoru in all her wonder and splendor.

Kaoru, meanwhile, had little time to really translate anything over yet. She stood stock still as tight strong arms wrapped around her and dragged her close to a body that, arms beguiling, was definitely feminine. And then thing sped up, moving in fast motion, and Kaoru was hugging Claire back. Fat tears watered her eyes and she sobbed out, "Claire! I missed you so much!"

Off to the side, Athanas watched on with confusion bristling in his magenta eyes before it coalesced into understanding; this must be Claire. He'd seen her file before he met Kaoru and vaguely remembered a part about them being friends. He kept his silence, allowing the two to have their moment, even as the world seemed to disappear around them.

Minutes passed but it didn't matter to the two best friends whom had just had the whole spans of dimensions and earths and planes of existence seemingly converge in on them and funnel down into a singular moment of utter rightness. Time was meaningless when they had each other. Perhaps that was what lead to the next events. Perhaps it was the shield cast up to hide from reality.

Whatever it was didn't matter.

As Claire slowly pulled away, her hand took Kaoru's face, wet from tears, and held her gently, carefully. She could be strong, she could be deadly… but she didn't need to be. Kaoru trembled, uncertain as to what was happening but didn't pull away. She trusted Claire more than anyone else. So when Claire's lips brushed her so subtly, so nervously, she eagerly pressed back, heart thundering somewhere in her skull and officially booting out her brain.

The flawless moment was shattered by the lazy voice that Claire had come to know.

"Well. I didn't know you swung that way, giraffe."

"_Karel._"

Claire jerked away, breathless and flushed in part from embarrassment but also from exhilaration. She stepped back, feeling awkward and clunky before turning to look at the, now, two Digimon that had invaded into hers and Kaoru's quiet moment. Kaoru, for the most part, was simply pink and fiddling with the tips of her fingers. She, however, was the first to speak up.

"U-um, Claire," she said moving over to Athanas's side. Her tanned hands landed on the Black Gabumon's shoulders and she steered him over. "This is Uni… er… Athanas. He's my partner… Uni, this is Claire."

The Gabumon kept the fact that he was fairly versed in Claire and who she was… and who, most importantly, her parents were. Instead he held his paw out to her. "It's nice to meet you, Claire," he said politely. "I see you got stuck with Karel… Sorry."

"Oi! Shut up," Karel growled, playfully, while Claire shook Athanas's hand. She felt utterly drained and numbed, still drifting back to that perfect, sweet moment between she and Kaoru. Where did that leave them now?

"I'ts nice to meet you… Uh… you two can come in here and sit for a while… If you like."

The three of the four were quickly seated in Claire's apartment. Karel had curled up in the squishy arm chair while Kaoru and Athanas has taken the couch. Claire emerged from the kitchen, carrying drinks for everyone. She passed Kaoru's to her first, knowing the girl's favorite without even asking(root beer with no ice but cooled in the fridge previously). Plus the pleasant way her heart fluttered when their finger tips brushed had her feeling a little bit dizzy.

She passed everyone else their drinks as well before settling on the couch on Kaoru's opposite side. The silence hung, mildly awkward for a moment, until Karel had finished drinking deeply from his saucer of milk. Having no apposable thumbs sucked ass, he realized…

"So… We're here… and man, we made good time," he said feeling pretty good. "Azulongmon's story isn't until tomorrow. The old bastard likes to arrive a day early so he can rest from his flutter down from heaven."

Athanas nodded, placing his drink down untouched. He wasn't extremely thirsty, not yet anyway, and he seemed more interested in the conversation at hand. His paws came on his lap and he shook his head at Karel's words.

"We aren't all here," he said. "There's still one more tamer on his or her way… Enid, remember?"

By the grimace on Karel's face, the two girls were left to assume that Enid was far from a likable character. All the same, Kaoru sat at more attention and edged forward. "There's going to be another human?" she asked tentatively.

"Who?" Claire said, breaking her vow of silence. She wanted to know who she'd have to share Kaoru's attention with…

"Dunno," Karel said with a shrug. "We'll just have to wait and find out."

Claire let out a huff of frustration before leaning back. Kaoru smiled a little before turning to her best friend-or were they more now…?

"For now, let me tell you about my adventures!"

Claire gave a small smile, prepared to say that sounded like a good idea when there was a loud knock at the door followed by a breathless voice, "Is he here yet!"

The voice was female sounded bubbly around the pants. It was with little suspicion that Claire approached the door, prepared to tell whoever it was that they had the wrong address. She never got the opportunity to do that either as something winged and greenish-blue flung itself through the door, all frantic excitement and nervous energy.

"Is my tamer here yet or did I miss him?"

Two Mark IIs flashed, reading off information on what appeared to be a baby dragon with a cream colored chest and belly and coarse green scales for the rest of her. Her bright read wings worked hard to keep her aloft, even though they seemed too small to really do so. In fact, now that she'd come to stand in Claire's living room, the trio would realize that it had only been the momentum of her jump keeping her a flight; her feet now were firmly planted on the ground while the red limbs flapped uselessly.

**Species: Dracomon**

**Level: Child**

**Type: Dragon**

**Attribution: Data**

**Field: Dragon's Roar**

While the two tamers in the room seemed to shocked to speak, Karel was well ahead of them, an ear flicked back. "Enid," he grunted out. "Your tamer hasn't arrived. Don't be stupid..." On the couch, Athanas rubbed his face, a headache growing.

Enid, the Dracomon, whirled around. "Eh? He's not! But-but! He's supposed to!" she yelped, not even phased by Karel's sharp remark on her intelligence. "He's supposed to be here... what..." Her eyes began to water and Kaoru was going toward the dejected dragon, dragging her into a hug.

"Aww! Don't cry, ne?" she said soothingly. "He'll be here soon, I'm sure!"

Both of Karel's ears were back as he said, "If he's lucky, he won't ever show up..."

Enid's reaction to his words instantly brought a loud sob from her scaly mouth, quickly followed by a hiccuped fireball. Kaoru yelped, backing up quickly from the sudden burst of flames while Enid continued to wail loudly.

"Karel!" she screeched. "You're so mean!"

Everyone in the room quickly covered their ears and the dragon's voice only grew in pitch, echoing around. Claire quickly moved around the room to Karel's chair and elbowed the top of his head. "Apologize, dammit! "she hissed, her eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. Karel hissed right back, tail splayed and claws gripping the cloth of his chair.

However, he did turn his head and growl out, "I'm sorry! Shut. _Up._"

* * *

Thomas reclined in the booth at the tavern and nibbled at his fries idly. He and his partners had made it to the Digital World in record time, thanks in part to the excellent mapping skills of Min and Emer's skills of stealth; they'd managed to take the shortest route possible while still avoiding any dangerous encounters. Now they were sittin' back, eating a meal of greasy burgers and french fries. Or at least, everyone but Min who had opted for a spaghetti of some type; it looked like the noodles were made out of movie tape and the sauce from ones and zeros. He was enjoying it though.

In his lap, Berk shifted and Thomas slid a French fry down to him. Hungrily, puppy scarfed it up, wiggling happily where he was. The Plotmon had attacked himself permanently to Thomas's side apparently; he'd even taken to spunkily calling him boss. It was a good feeling for the human and he really enjoyed Berk's company; he made him feel welcome.

The other two hadn't been rude… simply untalkative. Min was especially quiet, always staring ahead with a blank look on his face. Then he would randomly garble out some mathematical equations that Emer would decipher. He was brilliant, really, able to calculate their latitude and longitude better than the DSL and even able to reconfigure said device to the correct setting. He could tell the time by the way the shadows moved and he could come up with the odds for them being attacked…

Thomas was extremely impressed with him.

Emer, her talents were subtler. Everything about her was subtler. She moved like a veil, like water did around a rock; it was beautiful and scary at the same time. She was but a whisper in their group, keeping to the trees and the shadows that Min read so well.

Really Berk was the only to not have shown a specialty in anything yet. But that was fine. His company was more than enough make up for his lack of specialty. He stroked the Plotmon's soft head again before humming.

"So what's on our agenda now, baby sitters, guards, and partners?"

The three Digimon focused on him, their six eyes startling different from his own pair. He took it in strides though grinning at them. "I mean… there has to be a reason we headed straight for the Digital World,"he said with a mild shrug. Another French fry disappeared into his mouth.

Min grabbed his napkin and delicately wiped his wide mouth before speaking; the perfect gentlemen. "You did pay attention to the phone calls, human?" he asked, his voice thick with an African accent. He reminded Thomas sharply of those sarcastic, snobbish scientists that studied the barbarian tribes. The human, again, took it in strides though and swallowed his food.

"I did but they never mentioned how these three other kids tied into me coming to the Digital City,"he said with a slight shrug. His orange eyes shifted to Emer who had coughed and looked out the window. Large, round paws suddenly propped themselves on the edge of the table.

"Well, as stuff and annoying and repetitive as those bastards can be, its no wonder you zoned them out at least once."

Berk grinned despite the now sharp looks his older companions were giving him. He continued, undaunted. "They wanted you try and stop them here," he said. "All three, foolishly, will be coming here to see Azulongmon's story, right? After that, we have stop them and be the heroes of the Digital World! Isn't that great, boss?"

_Heroes, huh… I was never big into the hero business; being a hero is a thankless job…_

"I see… "he said instead, not wanting to dampen Berk's blinding spirit. "So… I'm supposed to listen to this story too? I mean… Insomnia was just a human right? How bad could she have been?"

Min's mouth shrunk and again, Emer went to staring out the window, her own petite mouth curled into a thin line. Berk's mouth was a small frown and he looked up at Thomas with big green eyes. "Idiot boy," Min said softly, blue, blank eyes burrowing into Thomas's. "Insomnia warped the Digital world to the point it was unrecognizable as a world at all. She was a selfish child who forced herself into our home and twisted it into something grotesque. She-"

"-must never be allowed to happen again."

Emer's cool voice sliced through Min's monologue cleanly and she turned her own blue eyes to stare at Thomas. "We don't expect you to understand the full extent of the scars left in Insomnia's wake, Thomas," she said. "But we expect you to respect our world's history and the fact that there are those scars…"

Thomas was quiet a moment before nodding. "Of course. I'm sorry," he said softly, smiling apologetically. Berk was unusually quiet and Thomas reached down to scratch behind the pup's ears. "Perhaps it's a good thing we're here then,"he continued. "I need to pick up a history lesson… Is there a library around here?"

"Library? What! No, boss!"

"Hush, Berk."There was a ruffle of movement and Emer's tail was disappearing; her slim form was moving toward the door and after one last quick bite of his spaghetti, Min followed. Thomas took that to mean they were leading the way and he quickly tossed down some money. He followed after them, his arms around the small puppy Digimon. Berk seemed less than enthused but Thomas was somewhat interested.

When he had started getting anonymous phone calls from staticy voices on the phone, he'd just rolled with it. But they were pompous and arrogant and had an annoying way of talking complete and utter babble. The things they spoke could never be true. Digital Worlds and monsters from said worlds. Listening to those phone calls every day about the same time became an endless source of amusement.

And then they actually dragged him here. He'd only been here approximately a day and everything was blisteringly real. The world was real, the monsters were real, even the history was real… and it had been covered up so completely. How did that work? There had been hundreds of kids all over the world to go missing and it had to have been for days. How did something like that get covered up?

As they approached a large building with massive columns out front, Thomas had already made it his mission to find out. Azulongmon but be telling him tomorrow… but he wanted to be ahead of the game today.

* * *

Caleb was shaken awake by a jerking sensation at his arm. His green eyes opened just in time to see the remote get a firmer grip before he was dragged through the screen of the television. He was sent whirling through a vortex where he couldn't breath, feeling the whole of time and space compress in on his chest. He must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, he was spat out into a hard black floor.

He groaned and felt his head pulse with an aching pain. There was a fluttering sound somewhere in his ears and it took a moment to realize that it was just from the rush of arrival. There was a shadow cast over him and as he looked up it was with a startled yelp, his body already darting back to get away from the orange fuzzy creature. His retreat was stopped, however by a strong, familiar hand landing on his shoulder.

"Slow down, Caleb."

The boy's head jerked up a the sound of the voice and he was met with the familiar blue orbs and murky blackness of Zwitter's hood. He felt some ease come to him and he slowly pushed himself to wobbly feet and looked around. As far as he could tell, he was in some kind of console room…

"Zwitter, what's going on…?"

"Hmph, you didn't tell him?" griped the creature that had originally startled him. Caleb felt mildly mortified that he'd ever been afraid of it but his assessment was cut short by Zwitter's dry response.

"If you'll remember, Seph, I had very little time to really tell him much of anything. Some flying guinea pig didn't put me anywhere near the intended target at all…"

Seph's cheeks colored and he looked away. "Still!" he huffed soaring away and landing on one of the large control panels. "Now we're behind schedule even worse than before! I mean, it was bad enough when he decided to run away! But you didn't even _tell_ him about the Digital World."

"Halt den Mund," she hissed sharply. "It won't take that long to catch him up. Besides, the girls can catch him up." The tall figure turned back to Caleb and the blue eyes softened. "I'm sorry, mein freund but we really don't have time to tell you everything… Seph will e-mail the details to you later but for now, just know that we're called Digimon and you have a partner waiting for you on earth."

Caleb frowned, not at all comfortable with being in the dark like this. He nodded, however, trusting Zwitter. While he couldn't see the expression, he could feel it, even as she lead him over to a circular pad on the floor. "We're going to send you down to the Digital World now,"she explained. "Luckily Seph has the bugs worked out this time…"

* * *

A/N: Chapter Ten in all its glory; not only is it the longest but it is also my best work. A lot of things are happening in this chapter, a lot of important things are coming together, such as the four children finally-**finally**- being in the same area. Thomas and his crew got a lot of development here and the nice thing about this chapter is that it includes every main character. :3 Anyway… this chapter comes in at 16 pages nicely. It, hopefully, makes up for the lack lust 8 and 9. With this chapter, I encourage anybody out there to please, **please **post your thoughts, you criticism, you honest opinion. I'd also like to see who the reader favorites are. Who is your favorite character, both human and Digimon? When I find out, I may right a short break chapter centering around them. Maybe even have them narrate it, I don't know.

Anyway, credits are as follows:  
**Kaoru, Hikari © Vn70072**

**Caleb © Aqua-chan**

**Claire, Athanas, Karel, Enid, Thomas, Berk, Emer, Min, Zwitter © Otterly Lost(Me)**


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